tension nai lene ka.. BHAI se poochne ka!

This post was meant to be a Rakshabandhan special. But procrastination and its evil ways have been wrecking my routine life for a long, long, very long time now! Anyway… here’s to my favourite person in the world, Govind or Unni.

I still remember the phone call from dad. I was at Sudhir uncle’s place then.
“Hello???”
“Divya! You have a baby brother now”, my dad had almost shouted into the phone.
And I still remember jumping up and down with the phone in my hand yelling “I have a brother! I have a brother! Yaaaaaay!!”

And then Sudhir uncle and Nani aunty had taken me to the hospital. I had no idea of what it was like to be a sister of course. I was only four years and a few months old then. The excitement I felt then was probably just the excitement of getting something new; someone new to play with; for all I know, I would’ve felt the same excitement had someone told me I was getting a new 3 foot tall teddy bear. Who knew?

But I still remember the first time dad took me to see my baby bro. There were four babies in the hospital nursery. We were allowed to watch from a window. One was Chinese, and the other two probably Canadian or American. He was the only Indian baby, the smallest and hairiest of all, fast asleep, oblivious of his then naughty sister (yeah I’m an angel now ;) ), peering into the glass, trying her best to wake him up. That is, by far, one of the best moments of my life.
“Who do you think he looks like, Acha?” I had asked my dad.
“It’s still too early to tell.”
“No. I think he looks like me.” My dad had just smiled to that.
My mother tells me I was a lovely sister. (Yes-‘was’. Cuz she thinks I’ve worsened over the years :P ) but then she also thinks part of the reason why I volunteered to look after him all the time, particularly when guests were around, was cuz I liked it when people used to say “awww… look at the baby with the big sister. Soooo cute” :D
The first thing I’d do when I got home from school was to check on him. If he was asleep, I’d wait till he got up. (Where do you get such sisters??!) I’d volunteer to feed him cerelac and then run when amma yelled at me for creating a bigger mess than he did eating it. Things changed after Unni was born and it was such a welcome change.
And he is still one of the most important people in my life. I love him like crazy even though I yell at him and hit him and punch him and kick him and try my level best to inflict a little pain on him while all he has to do is give me a small punch to send me howling at the top of my voice. And I still adore him even though I told him I hated him and that he is a horrible brother and that he’d never make it in the AIEEE exam and that he’d never get a girl all his life, the last time we fought (sowwie :( I didn’t mean all that!). Yes I can be the very domineering big sis too. I love bossing him around, telling him off when he watches too much television or fails to get good marks on a test. That’s all part of being the responsible big sis isn’t it? :D
But he is such a darling brother. Sometimes if I have a severe headache, he’d make me a big glass chocolate milkshake or our favourite noodle soup and give me a nice head massage (true... where do you get such brothers??!). As a kid, when dad used to get wild at me for making umpteen calculation mistakes on my math test (of the kind, 3 x 4 = 7), Unni would wag a tiny little finger at him and say, “Achaa… last warning!”. And I vividly remember the time he had cried when I was leaving for the hostel in my second year of college, (I know he will kill me for this). I don’t remember a time I have loved him more :)
Anyway, this Rakshabandhan, I just want him to know that I love him and that I think he is the best, sweetest, smartest, handsome-st (and all other good superlative adjectives) brother ever and that can ever be : ) biiiiiig hug!