Delhi girl Bipasha Basu returned to her roots to bring in her birthday on January 7. "This was my first birthday in Delhi. I've very special links with that city. I was born in Delhi. So when I got a chance to be in the capital for my birthday, I grabbed it. To make it even better, it was seriously cold in Delhi. I love winter weather."

Bipasha's soul-mate and hopefully her lifelong companion John Abraham accompanied her to Delhi. "It was the Auto Expo and as you know, John loves anything on wheels, but hates birthdays. So he was just happy being around some of the best cars in the world."

The couple flew back to Mumbai in time for Bipasha's family birthday lunch. "It's an annual ritual on my birthday, and one I won't miss for the world. This time, one of my sisters was not here for my birthday. She's studying. We really missed her. But my parents and my other sister, brother-in-law and nephew were home for my birthday."

John was not invited to the family lunch. As far as birthdays go, there's a serious problem between Bipasha and John.

While John hates birthdays and all the accompanying rituals, Bipasha loves every bit of the attention of her birthday. Hence, while John went into hiding on his birthday last month (December 17), Bipasha basked in all the attention.

"John runs the other way when it comes to cutting cakes. I spent my whole birthday cutting cakes with different groups of family members and friends. I couldn't take all the calls and SMSs. But I answered all of them on the day after my birthday. When I returned from Delhi, my house was filled with flowers. You've no idea how wonderful flowers look in a newly-renovated house. My home was fragrant and attractive. My two sweet maidservants had arranged all the bouquets all over the house."

Bipasha is hoping for a productive year. "There isn't much work happening. The scripts floating around are mostly mediocre. I can't bring myself to do sub-standard work. Hopefully I'll sign something exciting soon. But I'm certainly not sitting at home. I'm constantly on my toes doing one thing or another, too busy to twiddle my thumbs."

Courtesy: Bollywood Hungama