Through a fortuitous combination of luck and timing, Peter's birthday has often coincided with our trips and shoots overseas. He's eaten birthday cake in a crowded Honduran market, in the shadow of Burma's most famous temple, and on Singapore Airlines some 39,000 feet above the earth. En route to Vietnam last year, the entire Cathay Pacific flight crew sang to him as they sliced up a delicious chocolate confection and presented him with a birthday card which they had all signed.
Perhaps his most memorable birthday cake abroad, though, was eaten at the Mweya Safari Lodge in Uganda where we were on a break with our location sound guy midway through a shoot. I had arranged for a cake to be transported to the lodge which sat high on a cliff overlooking the spectacular Kzinga Channel connecting Lake Edward and Lake George. The birthday evening began with a multi-course dinner. As the sun set, a million little lights dotted the grounds of the lodge.
Suddenly, we were enveloped in darkness and in the distance heard the sounds of drumming. As the drummers drew closer, we could hear them singing "Happy Birthday, dear Peter" over and over and over. The cake reached our table carried by torch bearing waiters and with great ceremony, was cut into enough pieces to feed everyone staying at the lodge.
Once again, Peter's birthday has coincided with a trip. This time, though, he has made me solemnly promise not to mention it to anyone. Absolutely. Period.
We arrive in Mumbai after an incredibly long journey including a "by the skin of your teeth" landing at Heathrow in what one flight attendant calls "a 70 mph gale." We're exhausted but excited to be back in India.
Leaving the airport by car, we're immediately assaulted by the noise and chaos of the traffic--huge, colorfully decorated Tata trucks and overcrowded buses moving side by side with dozens of tiny Tuk Tuks and the ubiquitous black and yellow taxis that you see everywhere in India. Sellers dash between the vehicles offering everything from newspapers and lottery tickets to memory cards and hairdryers and somehow everyone avoids the cows who wander with impunity. After several questionable U turns and some improbably tricky manoeuvres, our driver pulls up at the hotel where we'll spend the night before flying south.
The security is intense and we are scanned and frisked before being allowed to enter the lobby. Once inside, however, we are greeted by a desk clerk who is charming, Bollywood handsome, and very helpful. The 29 hour trip is catching up with us by now and we are happy just to go to our room and nap before heading downstairs for Peter's birthday dinner and our first meal in India.
Over dinner, Peter thanks me once again for not drawing attention to his birthday.
Later we return to our room, open the door and turn on the lights. And there before us on a table is a beautifully decorated chocolate birthday cake. We're both surprised but quickly assume that our charming desk clerk put it all together when he took Peter's passport and noted the date.
Peter sighs and shakes his head. I can only smile and say, "Well, you can run but you sure can't hide!"
Over dinner, Peter thanks me once again for not drawing attention to his birthday.
Later we return to our room, open the door and turn on the lights. And there before us on a table is a beautifully decorated chocolate birthday cake. We're both surprised but quickly assume that our charming desk clerk put it all together when he took Peter's passport and noted the date.
Peter sighs and shakes his head. I can only smile and say, "Well, you can run but you sure can't hide!"
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