In a couple of days he will get his ‘revenge’ for all the jokes and jibes that came his way growing up, jokes Thrissur-native Shaji Raphael. “It is not just me, all of us who were born on leap day, February 29, have been the butt of such jokes. But I have found the solution to our unique ‘problem’,” he says. The ‘solution’ is a gathering of people born on February 29, in Thrissur to set a ‘national record’.
It started in mid-January, with Shaji posting a video on YouTube and sharing a text and a voice note on WhatsApp asking those born on February 29 to get in touch with him. “Eight people responded — it was a start. We decided to meet up on January 26, since it was a holiday, at Thrissur’s Thekkinkadu Maidan. Only five people were able to make it. As we got talking, the idea of ‘celebrating’ together came up. We decided that even if it was just the five of us or 10, we will celebrate,” says Shaji, who was born in 1972.
As per the plan, they booked a hall to celebrate the gathering and setting the record. “Even then we had such a hard time. We had to educate people about February 29; we had to convince people that February 29 was a big deal,” Shaji says laughing.
Among those present there that day at that first meeting was retired Kerala Police sub inspector, Muralidharan KS.
The first meeting of Leap Year Friends at Thrissur
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
If Shaji was made fun of as a kid for ‘not having a birthday’ every year, Muralidharan says he had no such problems on account of being born on leap day. “I did not think so much about it as we go by the Hindu calendar, and mine was celebrated on my star birthday [per the Hindu, Malayalam era calendar]. Was it special? Yes, as not many are born on that day. But it was not a big deal for me,” says the former cop who was born in 1956.
However, he was piqued by the idea of a gathering of people sharing a birthday and he joined the group when they decided to form Leap Year Friends Thrissur. Shaji is looking at the procedure required to register the group as an association.
Another leapling is Davis AA, an aluminium fabrication contractor, also from Thrissur. “I saw the newspaper report on Shaji, and got in touch with him.” Born in 1952, he, like Muralidharan, has not been too bothered about not having a birthday every year. That is until now.
“We miss the landmark birthdays which, obviously, don’t fall on our date of birth. I celebrated my 70th birthday in 2022, I turn 72 on leap year day,” says Davis. On non-leap years the birthday wishes come either on February 28 or March 1. “Our birthdays are flexible, aren’t they?” he asks.
A birthday party, once in four years
Leap Year Friends will meet on February 29, 2024, at the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Auditorium, Thrissur, from 6pm. So far there have been 100-odd confirmations. Leap Year Friends has a WhatsApp group, where updates about this party are posted. Enquiries have been coming in from Malayali leaplings based in foreign countries too. They are attempting to set a record for the Talent Record Book, for the largest gathering of people born on February 29. Those seeking to be part of the record-setting attempt will have to present documents proving their date of birth. “Around six children will celebrate their first birthday on February 29!” says Shaji Raphael, group founder.
For Koothattukulam native Ajay Krishnan, born in 1996, a birthday once in four years was an excuse to get out of giving birthday treats to his friends, “I would always promise them that I would give them a treat when it is actually my birthday, which is on February 29. Since I have a star birthday, per the Malayalam calendar, it did not bother me too much. For the longest time, I was the only leapling in my school.” This year he suspects his friends might be planning a surprise.
The one time he remembers feeling bad was when leap day fell on a Sunday, “I took sweets to school the next day, on March 1. It was supposed to be my special day but it felt like any other day,” he says. He speaks of a relative who ‘changed’ his date of birth legally to March 1 to avoid complications of a birth date that falls once in four years.
And then some don’t get a birthday. “I got new clothes and went to church with my parents on February 28. But no birthday celebration,” says special educator Betsy Francis. So, for her, this year, like every leap year, is special and she is ‘super excited’ about it, “I get to tell people that I have a birthday this year!” Her first memory of a birthday celebration is her fourth. “When we look at the photographs, Daddy jokes about it being my first birthday. I felt bad about it. Everybody at school would distribute chocolates on their birthday but not me. By the time I was in Plus 2, I decided I was special. I have now made my peace with it, and I believe we are special for that reason!” Betsy adds.
That said, the date of birth on her Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) is February 28, 1984, because the year she was admitted to school the calendar did not show February 29.
“I tell people who sympathise with me for not having a ‘birthday’ every year — I am among the lucky few whose birthday falls on February 29!” Betsy sums it up for all leaplings.
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