  The Birthday Speech I don’t know why Shona has asked me to speak at her birthday. I’m not good at these things. Don’t like giving birthday speeches. I’m afraid that I’ll come out to be too critical or my jokes will fall flat.
I’ve known Shona for such a long time, and there are times I feel that I don’t know her at all. Shona likes her space. I’ve never known anyone who likes quiet time so much. She likes her quiet in the morning just when she gets up. She reads a lot. She likes interesting people. She has her mood swings. Does one talk about such things at a birthday party?
Remember, I will be competing with the wine for attention. Shona’s friends are a mixed bag. There are those that have 9-5 jobs in financial corporations. I met another group some time ago. They were second generation Asians discussing the body as a space for cultural identity. I know that Shona’s interested in culture. She did a degree in it. She grew up in three different countries. I don’t know what she calls home. She says that she’s a cultural anomaly. She smiles when she says this. Must be hard not fitting in. Making friends knowing you will have to let them go in a few years. Having to explain your life over and over again to people who nod their heads but don’t quite understand.
I don’t understand these discussions on space and identity. For me space is full of stars and planets. I know that Shona wanted to be an astronaut when she was small. She was one of those chubby Indian kids in England. Her mum used to dress her up in frilly dresses with white knee high socks. If you ask her now, she will tell you that the 1980s was the era of bad fashion. A well-meaning family friend told Shona that she was too fat to be an astronaut when she was 7. Shona lost interest in space after that. Exercise is something Shona caught on to since she started university. Now, she’s in India and her relatives tell her that she’s too thin (and too dark) to bag a husband.
Life is full of contradictions. I never thought that Shona would end up in India. I know that she was scared when her parents decided to move to Kolkata into the arms of a conservative family. She moved with them. A concrete jungle for a girl who grew up in a small English town, a tiny rain forested equatorial country, and ended up in the leafy suburbs of Sydney. She misses her green space. She misses her independence. Her snot has turned black because of the pollution.
She has also grown up. There are a lot of things about Shona I could say. I don’t know how appropriate they would be for a birthday. I know that she wishes her clever/quirky younger sister or that her best friend/boyfriend were here. Neither of them will be. One remains in London and the other in Sydney. Maybe that’s why Shona asked me to give a speech. I sit here racking my brains. I’ve never written a birthday speech before. What does one say?&nbsp; &nbsp; ~shona~ 
