Ho ho ho! The season is here!

Hello guys!

Merry christmas and a very happy new year, in advance. This post is a dedication to a very close friend who has completed yet another year of awesomeness.

I was dressed up as Santa yesterday and was sculpting balloons for children at a well known store. I got a picture of how much one Santa can do for so many children- create or sustain a world of fantasy which exists only in childhood.
If not that much, at least get smiles on the faces of the older kids. Yes, kids can be a pain sometimes. But, at the risk of sounding like a parent already, it all feels worth it to contribute a little bit of happiness to their lives.

It felt so good to really go out there and spread happiness and that too, was overly exaggerated for me because I never say ,"HO HO HO!" thirty times an hour. It made me realize what we really miss out on thanks to our inhibitions of being open in expressing what we feel for people, maybe at the risk of sounding stupid. Yes, I had apprehensions about being a public Santa. But I thought it to be worth the risk. And yes, it was. There was a lady who came with an infant in her hand and spoke to him saying, "Oh see! Your first Santa!". The mother clicked a photograph of the seven-odd month old in his father's arms with me. And all that I could think of was 'Wow!'. There were some six year old's who gave me one of the best responses for the balloons I sculpted for them. So much happiness.

It was a pain sometimes because there were seventy odd children and managing them, their emotions and their mother's emotions and turning them into happiness was a task. I had to build impromptu stories and manage the crowd as I simultaneously pumped air into the balloons and twisted and turned them into Christmas goodies for the children.

The experience made me realize how I am different when I was known to the world as Santa and not Avinash Shahri. The former had a huge deal of happiness to provide. The latter was tired after the event, but left fulfilled. Same person.

To think of it, this whole episode reminds of this birthday girl. Why? Because she always spreads happiness. That's it. She spreads, happiness. Happy birthday.Andwatelse?