Partners in Crime

My niece, Priya had decided to celebrate her birthday with hubby , Vikram, over a quiet dinner. The devil that Vikram is - he had tied up a master plan with my daughter, Shraddha, a bigger devil, to celebrate the birthday of Priya in a manner which was more of a surprise to her.

Both Vikram and Shraddha had sewn up a master plan whereby the duplicate key of Vikram’s house was available with Shraddha. Both of them had agreed that after dinner when Vikram brought Priya home, the house would be decorated and a cake would be kept on the centre table. All the other family members were told to assemble in the house and ten of us including my eighty old mother were seated in one of the rooms with all lights switched off. Thanks to mobile phones, constant encoded messages were exchanged between the devils to ensure that the plan was executed without any glitch. Vikram, of course, to ensure that Priya had no clue , had to pretend while messaging that he was involved in serious office work.

At around 1155 pm, we heard the noise of the key on the door and Vikram along with Priya came in. There was pin drop silence and the lights were put on by Priya who saw the cake and the decorations and was heard telling her hubby ‘ Baby, thanks so much for the cake’. By then all of us rushed from the other room and in unison sang ‘Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Priya’. She was stunned and could not believe her eyes. She was so thrilled that she lost herself for a moment and hugged each one of us expressing her joy and happiness.

For all of us , this was a memorable experience, and for Priya – it was something out of the world. Indeed the plan was executed to a ‘T’, and I had heard of such things happening elsewhere We congratulated the partners in crime, the two devils, who left no stones unturned in ensuring an unforgettable experience and a great birthday to Priya.