Hi
everyone.
It
seems like it has become a very bad habit of mine to always keep the new posts
of this blog pending for long and then later apologize for it. So continuing
the trend, I apologize for such a long delay in this post. I had almost decided
that I will be quitting blogging due to some personal reasons but I am lucky to
have friends that keep me motivating for continuing this and I am thankful to
them. I promise to all that I will try my best not to have such a delay again.
I
would also like to sincerely apologize for the language I used in my last blog
entry about a girl who cheated her boyfriend. Many of my friends made me
realize that whatsoever the matter be, using inappropriate language for anyone
publicly cannot be justified in any way. I will keep in mind not to repeat such
a mistake in future and would like to thank my friends for making me realize my
mistake.
Starting
with the entry, this blog entry will be about the most special day in most of
the people's lives; i.e. birthdays; and the way it is being celebrated not only
in IITs but almost every engineering college. There is a unique and a totally
different way of celebrating birthdays in college and I am pretty sure that
almost everyone had & will always have the curiosity of knowing the origin
of this way of celebration. I had my birthday recently and I feel fortunate
enough (unfortunate; according to some) to somehow avoid the complete way of
celebration. Due to this reason, a part of this entry will be based on other's
experiences.
GPL
(google 'gpl in colleges' for more info :P), a word I heard for the first time
only in college, was thought of another college lingo(slangs of college) by me
at first. But soon I came to know that this is something I will always love to
keep my distance from. GPL can be defined as a ceremony in which the birthday
boy is hit with special pair of shoes, sandals,
slippers and other footwear starting at exactly 12 at midnight for a
time duration ranging from 10 mins to 45 mins. (yeah, 45 mins is too much!!) In
some cases, the 'recipient' of GPL is hit so much that after some time of
hitting, he is unaffected by any more hitting as a saturation level of pain has
been reached :P. The pain is so unbearable that one of the most special day of
someone becomes the 'pain-day' for him; making him think that why in the god's
name did his birthday come? Fear of GPL
makes people hide their birthdates on fb (That's people like me). Fearful
students tell their parents to wish them secretly instead of a public show of
celebration. Most interesting thing I found about it was that if someone has
his birthday in vacations or someone tries to be clever by declaring his
birthday to be in vacations, then 2 GPLs are proposed for him; 1 before and 1
after vacations :P :P.
 |
| GPL invitations |
Coming
to the 'process' carried out on birthday; special invitations are put on fb or
in hostel for increasing the number of people. Anyone and everyone can
participate in it; irrespective of whether the boy knows him or not :P. Friends
come 5 minutes before 12 at midnight to push the birthday boy (or the unlucky
one :P) out of his room and is brought in a central area where everyone could
assemble. One or two goes (who may call them organizers :P) to each and every
room of the wing to call each and every student out for making the event grand!
Clock strikes 12 and the sound of some special 'gifts' could be heard from a
long distance. Whenever someone gives a solid hit such that sound is loud;
others start hooting to motivate him for
more such hits :P (once it happened that I had to wait for GPL to get over
before I could sleep as the noises were so loud!). The crowd in GPL can be
broadly classified into three categories: one boy who is the prime focus of the
event and is unlucky to have his birthday :P; the hitters consisting of many
number of people; and spectators consisting of a few who are present just to
enjoy GPL and do not participate in it. Hitters try their best to convert
spectators into hitters. In short, your friends leave no stones unturned to
make sure that you remember each and every hit on your birthday forever :P
(this is the time when you abuse your friends from your heart the most :( ).
After this is completed, in many cases it happens that to compensate for his
suffering; they bring a nice cake for him for the traditional way of
celebration also. But wait; how can something be so good? So, either the leftovers of the cake or
another cake is being used to apply on your face and body as much as possible
:P.
 |
| Me after friends applied cake on me |
Due
to all this, it once happened that a boy whose birthday was on Saturday took
his laptop, mobile, some money and required stuff and went to library &
canteens for complete Saturday and Sunday to avoid his gpl. Crazy it may sound;
but he managed to escape from his GPL somehow :P :P. Some students try their
best to hide on their birthdays. After GPL, birthday boy is bound to give
parties to his friends. Parties include party to wingies; party to dept-mates;
party to society-people/club-people; party to NSS-people; different party for
roomies may also be included!
But
in spite of different opinions of what should and should not be done on
birthdays in colleges; everyone holds one common opinion, i.e., it surely
becomes the unforgettable day. The dun you do, the enjoyment you have, the
memories you capture and the time you spend on that day really is a memorable
one. Dozens of people wishing a happy day on fb or in personal, having parties
with friends (although they may be a burden on your pocket :P) and such things
makes you feel that birthday is real fun with friends. Birthdays come; you
regret it due to GPL and pocket burden; you have some memories; you cherish
them later and again wait for you birthday; your birthday comes again and the
cycle repeats again.
That's
all for this time's entry. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I have to go now for
practicing guitar (my fingers hurt! If anyone has a solution to it; then do
comment below in the comments section). And yeah, sorry for a long post this
time!
Goodbye.
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