Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Born on a Leap Day? Woe betide!
|
Tomorrow is February 29. Cause for celebration as the date visits us just once in four years. Shilpa Nair Anand goes public about the grievances of those born on that day in a leap year, who have very few birthdays to celebrate
|
If someone were to say that she/he is eight going on 32, what would you say? Very bad report cards...or you can be generous and also say, “Aha! Leapling or leaper” (there’s something frog-like about the term and most of the websites seem to have froggy mascots). But apparently a “leaper” will have beaten 1, 056 odds against being born on Leap Day. So a “leaper” deserves some credit.
Born on the 29th of February is like being branded. Anyone asks you for your date of birth and just say February 29 and see…it is like this bizarre joke you have cracked, you might as well have said you are Elvis Presley re-incarnated or that you ARE Elvis Presley. Firstly most people are not likely to notice, so you say it a second time and watch the lights go on.
The romantics say “Oh! You are so lucky. It is so rare and you are the first/only leap year born person I know.” The pragmatists would say, “Well, look at it this way, you save on the money and although you are getting closer to the day you are going to keep your date with the Maker, at least it wouldn’t feel like you are.….” Then again you can rationalise anything…even blue murder.
There are countries and cultures such as Greece where it is considered unlucky for the betrothed to get married on this year, for obvious reasons. But ladies, if you have been chasing that elusive proposal, this is your year.
Make the best of the year, go right ahead and propose, they say you can’t be refused. And gentlemen beware! Did you know that years ago in Britain, any man who refused a proposal of marriage (by a woman) in a leap year could be punished…apparently the punishment could be anything from a kiss to a silk dress. When one is born on a leap day, one has to be philosophical about the whole thing. There are ways of dealing with it, looking at the positive side for instance. That one is one fourth one’s actual age, then again you get to legal age when your teeth (or the absence of them) say a loud and clear – 64.
No Golden Birthday
By the way a leap year day baby will never have a ‘Golden Birthday’ that is they will never be 29 on the 29th because then they would have to be 116 years-old. You can even scoot from work and say “Boss, tomorrow comes once in four years and it is my birthday!”
But friends of ‘leapers’ are the luckiest people. Because, they save on the birthday gift (if they are the kind that give you birthday cards with a map to the nearest bank!) and then they do not have remember “one more” birthday. Years of experience has brought home the fact that friends just forget that you have a birthday, because by the same reasoning if “you don’t have one every year we forget that you have one at all.” Makes one feel rather omnipotent or omniscient (both of which mean “invisible”?).
Being a “leaper” is a conundrum riddled existence – when do you actually celebrate? You are born on the day after February 28 and on the day before March 1, get the point? It is something like they say about the reflections of ghosts…apparently if a ghost stands in front of a mirror he/she will not have a reflection. Similarly the leap year born have no day to call theirs.
Many software fail to recognise Feb 29 as date of birth, leapers encounter the “invalid birth date” bug whenever they enter their date of birth. But there is an entire “leapness” culture (related to the leap year) out there. And if one were frantically looking for “famous” leapers to compile a list it would be sadly skimpy, but if you count Superman (so what if he is fictional) then we are getting somewhere with a list.
So this is the year, friends, come on become a ‘leapophile’! A leapophile is a person who is not leap year born but celebrates Leap Day. Remember those who have no day to call their own. In case you are wondering what all this ranting is in aid of…take a guess?
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
