Cake

When I was a child I would always look forward to birthdays. It did not have to be my own birthday. I was okay with anybody else's birthday as well, until and unless I was invited. My fascination to the birthday parties was the cake.

Growing up in 90s cake was definitely very special to me. Cake would only be brought on birthdays. One reason for that was that the cake shops were not as many as they are today. There were limited number of cake shops across the city. I remember that there was only one cake shop in my town despite it was at the centre of massive businesses. There was only one cake shop that would cater to our needs of birthday parties. So I would get to eat cake only on birthdays, not on any other occasions.

Another reason was that the financial conditions were not flourishing as they are today. In my childhood cake was not seen as a food item but a luxury that we can afford only on birthdays. Cake felt like a birthday gift rather than a party essential to me. So obviously cake was a valued food item. Maybe because I would not get to eat it easily and frequently, I would simply love cake and hence the birthday parties.

Somehow from late 2000 everything started to change. Maybe because the financial conditions started improving. There were more cake shops opening in the neighbourhood. Cake was available in abundance. Whenever I would feel like having the cake I would have plethora of options for cake shops and cake varieties. It was no longer rare and luxurious as it was in my childhood.

Also I feel there was a cake overload. At office whenever there would be any celebration there would be a cake cutting and distribution. And mind you in my office this celebrations would happen almost every week. So I would get to eat the cake every week. Maybe this is what affected my love for cakes.

In my 20s I started experienceing an extreme aversion of cakes. It was even unbelievable for me that once I was obsessed with cakes and now I could not even tolerate the sight of cakes. My love for cakes had dissolved just like how sugar would dissolve in water. I had all the means available to buy cakes and eat them. I had money to buy cake whenever I wanted. I had hundreds of options available for the cake flavours and varieties. Everything was in abundance but my mind was not inclining towards the cakes. I would not even feel like taking one single bite of cake.

Later in my late 20 and early 30 this aversion of cake even worsened. Having a cake on my own birthday started to appear like a punishment to me. I stopped bringing cake on my own birthday stating that I get uneasy after having cake. On others' birthdays as well I bought politely decline to have cakes stating health reasons.

Even today it is completely shocking to me how far I have distanced myself from the dessert that I used to love in my childhood. It is true that as we grow up we change and move away from the things we use to love in our childhood days.