RAJKOT: Eighty-year-old Kanu Namera could barely control her emotions when youngsters clapped and sang birthday song for her. For the first time, she witnessed her own birthday celebrations But Namera was not alone to receive this pre-Diwali gift. In all, there were 30 women — 28 aged 90 years and two 100-year-olds — whose birthdays were celebrated by a group of youngsters in Harbityari village, 5km from Tankara town of Rajkot district In this village of just around 3,000 people, 10 teenage boys and as many girls have formed two social groups named ‘Mahakaal’ and Kumkum’ respectively to celebrate the lives of old people, who are mostly considered to be a burden on the family.“It was the first time in my life that I felt my family did something special for me,” Namera said.The teen groups brought the sons, grandsons and even great grandsons of these women together for the birthday celebrations.Rohit Moradia, a class VII student and part of Mahakaal said, “Our grandmothers have sacrificed a lot for the families. But their lives usually go uncelebrated. So we decided to celebrate their birthdays in the same way as ours.”The youngsters bought 10 cakes, balloons and candles, decorated the village school with asopalav and made rangoli with ‘Happy birthday’ message.Another boy Meet Hitesh said, “Our grandmothers got emotional when we gave them this public honour and recognized their efforts. There were tears of happiness all around.”Geeta Sanchla, a government school teacher who organized this event, said, “Old people are just like children and they want special attention. This was an attempt to give them what they deserve.”These old women don’t know when their birth dates so we celebrated everybody’s birthday together.

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