And the award goes to…

We had a family gathering yesterday, to celebrate a young cousin’s birthday. A very memorable one.

My cousins decided they would do things a different way this year so they planned my family’s very own version of ‘Deal Or No Deal’ (guess what? I WON 50 cents!), ‘The Price is Right’ and… ‘The Oscars’. Yes, you heard me right, ‘The Oscars’… Well not exactly. We held our very own ‘Family Awards’… but it was no less exciting than ‘The Oscars’, mind you.

We had all in all 10 awards: Most cheerful, The Joker, Most encouraging, Most stylish bla bla bla…

Guess who bagged Most Emotional?
Me lah! Duh! (Were you expecting anyone else?)

Maybe some of you are scratching your heads going “But the Joy I know isn’t like that…”
Maybe the Joy you know is joyful (well yes, as her name suggests), weird (check), quiet (yea, at times but she’s noisy as well), funny (um… I wasn’t really going that way but alright, I’ll give it to you Joy), hakuna matata (check), stubborn (check), loyal (I wholeheartedly agree) and a cry baby (woah, slow down there mate!).
Yes, I am soppy, sentimental, emotional (a side of me only my family is aware of).. What you see is not what you always get. Whatever… I said it! Now don’t make me repeat it, I’ll kick you.. Ok maybe I won’t.

Alright, so back to where I was.
The emcee for they day announces “Next up, The award for the most Emotional in the family”. He also adds, in a matter-of-fact tone, “Not exactly the type of award you would want to get but hey, an award is an award, right?”. Just as he says this, I want to bury my face in the toilet bowl and flush it all the way down but to avoid further embarrassment, I decide that burying it in my hands would do just the trick. Could there be a silver lining to sitting through this dark, dank cloud? I’m thinking… hoping. Oh, who am I kidding! Of course not!

He declares my name, I stand up to receive it graciously (my legs feel awfully heavy), the speech all prepared in my head:
With crocodile tears, I walk down to the birthday boy (who is giving out the award KitKats). I hold it high up in the air and dramatically proclaim “Itni Khushi” (which is Hindi for “I am so happy!”) after which I proceed to move off stage, crying (all an act, I should add) my eyes out as I do so.
Embarrassing? You bet!

But you know what? Everyone thought my speech was the best (Could you beat that?). So what if it was all an act! Probably the only thing it lacked was some form of conviction which, I am sure, would have moved everyone to tears. Haha
Not so embarrassing after all. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Rest assured that even after this embarrassing… not so embarrassing albeit funny and memorable episode, I’m still gonna give a speech when I turn 21 etc. I did it when I turned 18, with my parents by my side, tears streaming down my face like how an open tap would, family members getting all emotional and teary. Yup, nothing’s gonna change that.
This award is mine! No way am I gonna lose it to anyone so don’t bother trying.
I’ll beat (pun fully intended) you to it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

P.S: Priya, my sister, just wants me to add here that she was nominated for Most Stylish (Female) but… lost it to my mother. You can post your condolences or sympathy speeches to her here. They will be very much appreciated.