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Two birthdays, one of them set by the moon

Amma texted at 5:10am: 'Today is your star. Go to temple if you can.' In our Tamil family your birthday isn't only the date on the calendar. It's also the day the moon returns to your birth nakshatra in the month you were born. Mine is Revathi. Growing up in Toronto I found this mortifying. Two birthdays, and one of them moved every year. Now I love it. The Gregorian one gets cake and coworkers. The star one gets an archana on my lunch break, the priest chanting my name and my star, a phone call with Amma, and a quiet hour of feeling claimed by something much older than me. If you've never asked your elders what star you were born under, ask. It's a very good excuse for a phone call.