Day 2 :: When Ties Run Deeper

I hardly realised it was Raksha Bandhan today until I saw some FB wishes. A day when a sister ties a sacred thread onto her brothers' arms and asks for love and protection for a lifetime.

Like every brother sister duo, V and me have also celebrated this day since childhood. Of late we haven't been together on this day. However, I remember all our childhood antics, fights and fun. I particularly remember one day when we fought so badly that I refused to tie him my Rakhi. Every year that's the day I keep replaying in my mind. :)

Today evening, being alone at home with Aa, I was generally feeling lonely and depressed. Suddenly when I heard the knock on the door, i wondered if it was my friend here. It wasn't. It was a kind lady with a huge box in her hand and asked me if I was the person mentioned as addressee. I was.

I cried as I took it in my hands. I was crying and hysterically telling Aa that her mama has sent me flowers for Rakshabandhan!! Aa must have thought I was all gone. I leave you with the pictures.

I thank the lady who was concerned enough to bring the flowers up to me because she thought they might wither. Bless her!

Vinayak anna, I love you! Even though you make me cry.

My Rakhi Gift for this year is...

Dear V,

It's not like the old times, when we were under the same roof... I fought with you even on Raksha bandhan day and swore not to talk to you ever. Today we live in different continents, lead different lives. I have to calculate the time before I can pick up the phone and give you a call. Though I love my new life, I miss the old one. 

Will always be there for you, no matter what!

Love,

Purnima

V n Me - Tit for Tat

Often I have talked about V n Me capers. Most of the incidents underscoring V's sharpness of mind and consequently Me's dumbness! Time to turn the tide now. These incidents - when V was outsmarted by Me. muahahahahaa - V, you remember these no? no? NO? That's understandable! :P
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Back in school days...

Me: blah blah blah... chatter chatter chatter chatter.... blah blah.... yada yada.... jabber....jabber....

V: (irritated) Can't you shut up?? How much you talk?!!

Me: arre? you don't want to listen then, close your ears... get out of the room... but I will nottt...

V: Look at S's sister. You both are the same age. And what a difference between the two of you!!

Me: What difference? Her school's St. Josephs... mine's NCL..that's the difference. hee hee hee...

V: See what I mean? She's so mature... reserved and grown up!! You should be like that y'kno? You shouldn't chatter non-stop. Grow up a bit!

Me: :/ RESERVED? what does that mean now? heheheheahhahahaha....

V: Reserved means mature... doesn't talk like you. Speaks intelligent. unlike you. reserved means knowing to shut your mouth. Now be a good girl from now.

Me: !!!

(after a while)

V: P, come. lets play something!

Me:

V: did you hear me? come, lets play.... wanna play a game on PC?

Me:

V: whats wrong with you?? why can't you speak?

Me: That's because I'm reserved from now on. so I won't speak.

V: Enough now. come, lets play.

Me: I said I'm reserved! I won't play. I shall keep quiet. I won't speak. hmmmph!

V: Plz come no. we'll play your favorite game. come.

Me: I. Am. Reserved.

V: alright! alright! now you can stop being reserved!! I'm sorry I even asked you to change. Now come.

Me: That means I can STOP now?

V: YES! now come pleeeez...and u can stop being reserved forever!!
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School days again...

V n Me both had the habit of studying loudly. He chanted his answers and I made it a point to chant mine louder than his. Mom resolved the issue soon. He was to study in our room, and I was to study in my parents' room, which was adjacent to ours. So, this was during our summer exams...

V: (screaming) Ppppp! come here!! fast fast fast!

Me: (comes running) what? what?

V: Good girl. Now switch the light on and go study!

Me: X-( what is this!! I was studying no? are you the only one who wants to score good marks in finals?? ammmmmmmmmmaaaaaa....

V: stop screeching. You have come here no now? why can't you switch on the light? stop wailing.

Me: hmmmph (but switches the light on)

After a few days...

V: Purniiiiiiiiii...come here...fast fast...now..now!!

Me: (jumping out of the bed, running to V's room wide-eyed) what happened??

V: light please!

Me: (tears brimming...brimming....brimming....overflowing, whacking V at the same time) waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!! you do this everytime...ammmmmaa see V doesn't let me study!!!!!

V: Now, why can't you do this job? switch it on and go..who's troubling you?

Me: !!!!!!!!! X-( (But still switches the light on..swears that she'll get back at him)

Still after a few days....

V: Pppppppppppppp! come here no Pleeeeeeeeez!

Me: (shouts from the other room) No, I'm not coming! I know you'll say "light plz". I am not coming.

V: noooooo...i won't ask you to do that. can't you see I have already switched it on? now come here no pleeeez?

Me: then you want water? i know. go to the kitchen and get it yourself. I ain't your maid servant. get lost.

V: arre..I swear. I don't want light or water. You come here. I want you to come here. come no...see I'm even saying please!!

Me: (goes to the room) what?

V: fan please! (grins idiotly)

M: (grins back at him... idiotly that too and switches the fan on...no complaints...no ammmmmmaaaaaa...no emotional atyachaar)

V: wah! see! my sister is succccccch a good girl... lovely...amazing...sweet....

Me: (switches the lights off, pulls out her tongue and struts out of the room victoriously with V shouting in the background....

V: come back P!!! why did you have to do that!!!! Ppppppppp!!!
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and this incident I don't even remember but have been told by my mom and recalled by V too. I guess I was 4-5 yrs old and V was 9 or 10.

V: (shouting from the balcony at our Gp's place) Pppppppppppp!! come here fast. now now. come running!

Me: (runs at a lightening speed) what??

V: see, there's your husband! (pointing at a lonesome donkey, who was staring into nothingness)

Me: (tears brimming...brimming....brimming...overflowing and whacking V with both the hands) HOW DARE YOU!!! Ammmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaa...see V is calling my husband a donkey!!! waiiiiil waiiiiiiill waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh...my husband is nice. my husband is not a donkey!!! (whack, whack whack!!!!)

(Well, talk about defending my pati parmeshwar at such a raw age(esp. when I hadn't met him and still haven't met him!! and Jinu, now you know why I love donkeys??)

Days later....

Me: V!!! come fast!!! (clapping hands, shouting and jumping up and down in her mothers lap)

V: what happened? you called me, P?

Me: yes yes!! Look what I found!! (points towards a herd of buffaloes) see the first one?? that is your wife!!

V: !!!!
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Now this last incident came to light because one fine day, out of the blue, my SIL, N, asks me : from which angle do I look like a buffalo to you? I was terribly taken aback since she asked me this question before they got married. Finally, looking at my lightening struck face, she and mom explained me what had happened 20 saal pehle!

And in case you are wondering what our mom was during all those "ammmmmmmmmaaaaa"s and when V got a bashing of his lifetime... she tried to control us by scolding..and keeping us away from each other for a few hours. When our judaaai was too much to bear we would beg and plead her to let us play together...and then we were back to where we started. :D

V, N, Me

Location n situation : V, my SIL, N, and me in a restaurant at Sg 3 yrs back.

V : Purni, we'll search for a nice groom for you here.

Me : uhh... I....

N : oh ya, Purni... we'll enjoy... with you n your family here too...then we'll even tell your parents to shift here....cool no?

V : yea yea... very. yea, get married after 8-10 more years.

Me : listen, I...

N : WHAT?? 10 more years? are you alright?

V : yes. I want her with me. Purni, ok no? 28-29 pe shaadi?

Me : arrreee...

N : :O!!! how can you tell her that? No, Purni, get married in another 3-4 yrs. You should also enjoy your life with your partner, u'know?

V : Nothing doing.... 7 years minimum.... Its ok....

Me : but arre, listen....

N : how come you dint insist on getting married to me after 7-8 yrs? afterall I and purni are almost the same age!

V : different for you.

Me : will you??....???

N : no wait, Purni!! how come? you have different set of rules? for each one of us?

Me : ARRRRREEEEEE STOP!

*silence*

... do you both realise that what you are arguing is about my marriage?

V & N : yes, of course...who else?

Me : Then, how come I'm not even asked at what age I want to get married????

V : gladly.... let us know... go ahead...tell this SIL of yours that u wanna get married at 28-29.

N : keep quiet. let her speak... go on tell... but let me remind you 24-25 best age.

Me : I don't know! I haven't thought abt it...I was ....

V : see what I told you... she's indecisive..i tell you 27....

N : No you shouldn't fill crap in her mind..she'll....

Me : siiiiigh *buried my head in the menu card and let the waiter come and interrupt*

Le Commencement

V and me had our first session of french lessons yesterday. :\

First, he wanted to check if the teacher, herself knew anything about french. So I was supposed to be honoured to be interviewed by this prestigeous student. Well, here I was saying "i-don't-know-what-this-word-means, i-have-not-heard-this-word-before" to all kinds of weird words that he was finding in the bilingual dictionary.

This is one student who's gonna keep me on my toes, asking me the history behind every word that is spelt wrong, pronounced wrong. :\ and this teacher's gonna whack him for every nonsensical questions. He won't even complain to his parents. ;)

Snippet from our comical class yesterday :

Me : ... fine now that we finished learning how to tell time... how will you tell when it'll be 10:36 AM?

V : no one will ask me 10:36 AM.

Me : why not? One can show you a digital clock which shows 10:36 and ask you to tell the time. what will you say? Now tell, Quelle heure est-il? (what time is it?)

V : After 4 mins, it'll be 10:40.

Me : WHAT?!

V : * triumphantly smiling at his witty answer *
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After the class, when SIL asked me how the class was, I said "well, this must be the first time ever in history, and maybe, even in the future... the teacher was looking at the watch intently, waiting for the class to get over."

Sibling Power

I have an elder brother. And my elder brother has a younger sister, which is; intelligently; me. :) Rather, we both have each other.

We've shared maggie, tv channels, pens, Archies and many other uncountable things, not without getting into a fight for each one of them. He teased me and I have pulled his hair. He laughed at my first crush and I created a scene for being hurt at his comments. And yet, we have equally covered up each others' mistakes for the fear of being found out by parents. This, I'm sure, is the scene everywhere.

Siblings have their own territory that they allow absolutely no one to trespass. Their bond goes much beyond inane teasing, pillow fighting and crying. They are rightfully yours forever... no matter who comes in your life, or theirs...after-all blood is thicker than water. Certain feelings like fears, excitement, anxiety can be confided in only to them without the fear of being ridiculed at. They are your god-gifted pillars of support at times when you are most distressed. Even if the whole world labels you as a shrink, s/he will be the one who'll prep up your mood. A small reassurance from them makes you feel so secure, so safe. Sometimes they are the only reason why you want to live.

I don't say that everything about your other half should be lovable. You hate them for some reasons too. (In fact you should.) All this is included in the package. It is about accepting, adopting and adapting to their ways and outlook, while making them accept, adopt and adapt to yours. A constant inspiration, stress-buster, emotional trampoline, call them whatever pleases you. Sibling relation calls for sharing, compromising, adjusting, accepting defeat, letting off your pride; plastered along with jealousy, competitiveness and bitter feelings at times. Yet it is one connection that you don't want to give up at any cost. The entire equation between a blood related brothers and/or sisters is totally different from what one shares with cousins. It is completely the "we" thing and it is severely defended by them.

This is what sometimes I feel, single kids miss. I see 2 groups around me - the one who have them and the other who lack them. Where on one hand people can go on and on about a gruesome fist fights they've had with their bro/ sis and laugh it all off, the other can just be indifferent towards all this and ask "what's such a big deal about bickering with your brother and crying... isn't it a mess?" Well, sorry to contradict you, but it is a big deal. Breaking a chocolate bar into 2 which you absolutely adore, is a big deal. Saying a timid sorry after a volcanic breakout is a big deal. Staying up half the night, planning the whole diwali vacation, is a big deal.
My life would be so incomplete without my brother... without his insults, stupid jokes that he cracks at midnight, boring extravagant travel tales that he tells me. It would be so incomplete for him too... without me to turn his arm black n blue, without me to laugh at his silly remarks, without me to pick out the right coloured shirt!! So this is kinda testimonial for him and all the brothers-sisters in this world.

Vinanna, I laav you! :D What gift you getting me for my budday?

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Reproducing one of the insultingly howlarious emails he sent to me (w/o asking his permission, of course), which, obviously, he must have conveniently forgotten by now.

P,

Blah blah blah,....... blah blah.... blah!

You are truly a gifted child... Parents, anyways wouldn't have paid for you!

Blah blah......

Luv,

V

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V & Me

V :: Where's my red pen?

Me :: I dunno.

V :: There should be google no? type what you want in the search bar and lo! you get it.

Me :: No re. Not Google. Google would just give details of the pen, it's brand, colour, ball point radius etc. Google Earth. Fly to locate the product in which inconspicuous corner of the remotest and the last-to-be-searched drawer it would be found.

V :: hehehehe....

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V :: .... you know if I'd got this done at Sg, it would have cost me arnd 450 S$. (referring to his newly made chasma)

me :: we'll do business then. you take orders from there and I get it done here. then you sell it there for 450 S$. lotsa money, what say you?

V :: you are bad at physics, chemistry, biology. and your maths sux.

me :: thats precisely why I did not opt for science, you see.

V :: but you are miserable at commerce too!!! who'll buy from me if I sell it for 450 S$.

me :: hehe hehe sooorry.. when you come my brain outsources it's thinking to you. :P

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V :: you PC is ancient. it takes ages to load ....

me :: I warned you before and also said that I will not accept any complaints. I know I have to get it formatted.

V :: before you do that, take backup of the files n folders that you want.

Me :: I know it. I'm not so dumb, y'kno? I'll format and take back up.

V :: no no, you have to back up then format.

Me :: Thats what I said... I'll format and back up.

V :: stupppiiid!! back up first then format.

Me :: I know, I know!!!! thats what I was saying.... umm... just a slip of tongue.