One More Birthday

Yesterday I turned 67 years old. Practically time enough to cover 3 generations.  The earliest I remember celebrating my birthday was when I was 22 and already a Probationary Officer in State Bank of India.  Before that there was no tradition of celebrating birthdays in our family.  Even now Birthdays are not taken very seriously.
I reckon it is only peer pressure which makes us celebrate this. Also for those of us who follow the Hijri calendar, the birthday is on a different date.  For example my birth date as per Hijri Calendar is 24/5/1369 (24 Jamadiul Awwal 1369).  By this token I completed 69 years on 22nd February this year

The first celebration which I remember was my "Bismillah" - a function for Muslim boys and girls when they become 4 years and 4 months old to initiate them into learning.  There is a feast in which all friends and relatives are called  and in their presence the Murshid or Maulvi makes you recite a couple of verses from the Holy Quran.

The second function I remember was when my father got transferred from Kolar to Channapatna in 1957 and he was given a grand farewell. Thereafter there have been quite a few celebrations

Interestingly the Salafi brigade  - Muslims following Islam very strictly as per their interpretation of Quran forbid celebration of birthdays saying that this is an imposition of western culture on Islam. Sounds familiar ? Yes they also oppose Valentines Day and generally enjoying life.
Islam is the most easy to follow religion and has scope for a lot of accommodation. Unfortunately it has been branded as a strict and unforgiving religion.
Anyway let me not digress - the point was about celebrating birthdays. While celebrating these are okay, the cult that is made out of it is exaggerated. Forgetting one's spouse's birthday can easily result in a divorce.
Another school of thought is that why celebrate the nearing of your own end as each day you grow old you are nearing your end.  But this is morbid and straightaway should be put in the dust bin.
Finally I think birthdays come and birthdays go.  If you don't have anything better to do then celebrate or if feeling too lazy skip.