My Birth Day- A Day of Confusion!

There's always confusion when my birthday is drawing near. Not necessarily because I am often excited, but rather because of the uncertainty of the date my birthday is to be observed. You may not understand what I am trying to say here, well, let me explain it to you.

It all started way back in 1980 when I filled up a form for my High School leaving examination. You may not believe me if I told you there were no birth certificates in Mizoram, especially in villages where there were no hospitals. Filling up a form for a High School examination was the first official birth document I ever had ( funny huh? better yet, I even wrote my own birth certificate), and that document was always based upon as my date of birth ever since.

If it ended there, there won't be any confusion, on my part like everybody else. But it didn't. As far as I could remember all my siblings' date of birth were recorded by my father on the inside cover of a well-treasured BIBLE. While I was a boy, I used to check on my date of birth whenever I felt like it. For that reason I knew my date of birth well, and I knew I wouldn't confused with any other dates. I didn't need to be told that it was an important date that I had to remember.  Once in a while I flipped open my father's Bible, honestly, not to read the WORDS OF GOD but to make sure I still remember my birth date correctly.

I was seventeen when I filled up my examination form and I remember the day pretty well. My friends and I gathered by the water tank, right next to the office window at Vairengte High School. It was a new feeling for all of us, our spirits were rather high; hoping that we would be leaving High School soon. Right at that moments I kind of felt mature, confident, and eager to see what was in store for me in life. Then we were given the forms we had been waiting for. Each of us filled the forms by ourselves independently. From there on I started to do things by myself, relied on myself and myself only. However, on that fateful day I made a terrible mistake which still haunts me like Halloween every October.

That day, nobody knew how,  and why I confused my date of birth with another day. My real date of birth, according to my father's record, was October 26. Nevertheless, that day I don't know why I forgot my real date of birth. Was I too nervous? Was I too excited? Was I scared? Was I intimidated by the fact that passing or failing would make so much different to me?  I couldn't remember why I had wrongly filled up my form as October 16!  That's why each year when my birthday gets nearer; I get confuse as to which date I was considered born. The real date or the official date, I guess nobody needs to give me an answer for that.