Today is my daughter Geetanjali’s 13th birthday. She is officially a teenager today.

Another era passes by. Sure, being 13 doesn’t give her the car keys or a right to vote (or even the right to decide what we watch on TV on Wednesdays at 9pm ), but it does bring about two fundamental changes:

First of all, it makes me feel older. 13 years ago, I was 28 and broke. I had to borrow Rs.200 from my bank manager to go buy sweets to distribute to people to celebrate Anjali’s birth. It was just a little over 10 years after ABBA sang “what lies waiting down the line, at the end of 89″, and the future – the whole 21st century thing – still had a sense of delicious mystery about it. Today, I am the years into the fabled 21st century, and I still don’t see people flying around using jetpacks. And there is still a Bush fire burning.

Secondly, it makes Anjali feel older. Is that good? Will it raise her level of awareness about responsibilities? Will it make her think and act like an adult, or will she be just another air-headed teenager, mooning over paper images of Sharukh Khan (like her mother does ?

Time will tell, I guess. One change I have already seen – instead of asking for the typical kiddy party, she wants a party (to take place after her exams finish – she has Maths tomorrow, and exams go on the whole week) that is pretty unlike what Shubha expected Anjali would ask for. Actually the kind of party *I* would enjoy, complete with an award winning, competition-busting rock band in attendance, not because someone paid through his nose to get them, but because they are actually, really, truly and honestly Anjali’s friends!

Now how many “kids” in *your* neighbourhood can boast of that?

Yay!

Sadly, certain in-DUH-viduals will be missing a great party – for them, there will be pictures to see and tales to listen to.

But for the rest of the gang – let’s party, dudes! The offspring is a teenager! She doesn’t have a license to drive, but she *does* have a license to party!