Books Vs Beauty

Today her exams end and she seems to be more determined to study harder. I was taken aback when she said that she had aimed for 98% in her periodical exam but she won’t be getting as one of her test did not go well. I thought it would be smart of me to be quiet that to console her. Can’t thank God more for not making her my elder sister.

As we grow in age, priorities in our lives change. It does not seem long when I felt so low because of my pimples. It was a phase in life when I thought that nothing can go worse than that. When pimples were gone the black marks that were the trails indicating its presence once upon a time. At that point I thought; better not have a face than having one like this. Right now I don’t feel I was so much correct then; but taking my age in consideration, I must say almost carved a philosophy of life, looks matter.

Almost at 11 PM when I asked Sis whether she is studying now, she confidently said that she will continue till 2 AM. About quarter past 11 she comes back with all her books and neatly piled them at her cupboard. Guess what she noticed dark circles on her face and decided that she must better sleep to get rid of them. She even realized (while looking into the mirror) that she needs to stop taking nap in the afternoon; she need to reduce her waist line. She washed her face and applied milk cream to her face (I suppose) and went to bed. Just a week ago, when she had her exams, her priorities were a bit different. She found out a beauty-short cut in yahoo answers. The burden of studies did not let her deviate from one or two tiny pimples on her face. Believe me they were so tiny that unless and until a person is told explicitly to notice them, they could never find their existence. She started applying tooth-paste over it before sleeping, as told in yahoo answers and verifying it from Mom. That was the least that she could do at the time of exams.

I won’t lie if I say that I see my teenage growing when I look at her; may be excluding the too-much-study part. But I need to admit that she has a good taste in taking care of herself and fashion. The dress that I admired wearing a lot in my childhood is now the official uniform of Pizza Hut delivery boy, red shirt and black pant. Woooaah!! It is 2 AM already! Please don’t find me childish but it is quite late now and is time for my beauty sleep.

Ooo! She gets angry...

I can’t help being a protective brother and sometimes over protective too. Today evening when we crossed our finger, waiting for the promotion list where Dad was expecting a promotion. My sister changed the channel to UTV where “Dadagiri” was being telecasted. For some reason, this show seems to be a waste. My sis clenched and horrified as what the host would ask a girl to do whom she was abusing like anything. I wonder how concept of entertainment has changed. I asked her to change the channel, and then it transformed to altercations and ended with me scolding my sis. We were having samosa; she took her share and went to the other room.

When I finished my share I went along with my work. We had dinner. All the while sis was silent and not talking to me. She prepared my bed and went back to study, still not speaking a word to me. I had to give up and went to her. I stammered in a kiddo tone and did all sort of pampering. I had to tell her some new stories of her childhood as how I was waiting for her to grow up so that I could boss her. Then how tiny and cute she was and how often she did potty. Somehow these disgusting potty things also sound funny in reference to the baby age. She was almost in the verge of smiling, which meant that she is getting back to normal. Just a bit of tickle then did it all for me. I had to take some of her hitting and beating to drain out all her anger. And the best part it did not take so long.

To be very frank I love her attitude of regaining her mood soon. This makes her so loveable. She wished me good night and played with my ever bulging belly and told that she will wake me up at 7. She will be having her periodicals from tomorrow and she is excited as this is her first class tenth periodical; now that is so much like my sis...hahha.

I wish her all the luck for her exams.
By the way, Dad got promotion and will be parting us soon... 

Image Cutesy: http://blog.geneort.com/

Sis is my little BIG GIRL

By the way did I tell you my sis is in tenth grade now. When I came back of my long educational tour (more than a decade) for a big vacation at home, I could not digest my little sis has become so big and mature. This abruptness is because I never stayed more than 2 weeks at home with my sis for years together. I see her now studying along, having long list of friends whom she often calls with her mobile (Dad’s gift to her) and posting at yahoo answers to some questions which surely needs a mature perspective.

My kiddo sister is now no more a baby. It does not seem to be long, when on one of my comment on my teacher infuriated her enough to call me a bad boy. She was in standard one then and calling someone bad was the utmost level of disrespect one can expect from her. Today while playing badminton I realized every teacher that had ever taught their section seems to have nick names; and that too not so decent sort. To my surprise there was not a flinch on her face. Her talks were reminiscent of my school days and I enjoyed her super cool lingo while she went on with her chatters.
The next thing that I observed was about the boys of her class she talked about. I remember most part of my life, girls found the boys group untidy, shabby and even disgusting. Since then things have not changed at all!! I did not find sis calling a single boy of her class good because, as per her, all of them are nonsense in everything; mostly dressing. In her words – “They are ewee!!!”

One of the common sign of her getting big is being very choosy about the dress when she has to go out; no matter if it just ten steps from the house. She just won’t step out unless she is wearing a jeans and a right fitting top. I have also observed her pattern of combing her hair has changed. At time she is just not satisfied by one or two hair of hers for which she will re-comb her hair entirely. A 5 minute of normal combing session now takes around twenty minutes. The best part is full resistance of being photographed casually. If there is a slightest doubt that something is wrong with her looks I dare if anyone can take a pic of her. Once on trying to click her pic while she applied some kind of pack on her head, she threw two big stones on me; I missed the first one because of my quick reflexes while missing the second one was sheer God’s grace. Sweet sis huh!!

One afternoon Mom called me suddenly almost at top of her voice. I was in the next room. As soon as I entered the room Mom with a mischievous smile pointed to the television screen pointing me to an actor – “Your sister likes him a lot. I am thinking of getting her married to him only”. She looked at my sister in a hope to pull her leg but I was startled when she openly declared – “So what! He is so cute”, totally unaffected by the comment. In days she made it so obvious how much she likes to dress like Selena Gomez. She is a diehard fan of Emily Osmen and Vanessa Hudgens. For some reason she hates Miley Cyrus. On asking about Jishu Sengupta (the actor whom Mom pointed out), she said she would any day prefer Zac Efron. After a few second of thought she said –“Zac is cuter”.

It is a great feeling to see her grow. I see her watching her young role models so closely and reading about them; but then while playing badminton, or dancing, or the times when she teams up with me to steal food from kitchen and sometime clinging with me to know how she was when she was a baby, I know how unique she is. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful and lovable sister who is so much inseparable from my life. Can she be big for me any day?

Dance Lesson

Mom found it to be a caricature and left the room but my sis seemed like taken a pledge to teach me dancing today.

It is an everyday affair when sis would ask me to dance on “Can I have a Dance” from High school musicals-3 and I had to say NO to her importunate demand. But today as I had been bit strict to her while playing badminton, I had to make up for that by dancing with her. I always dreamt of dancing splendidly whenever I heard foot-tapping songs and with Hritik Roshan coming to the Bollywood, I have been taking this daydream of being a dancer quite seriously. Dream is a dream and fact is a fact; I suck at dancing.

My sis was so excited that she played the video of Can I have a Dance and told me to watch the steps while dancing with her. Hardly had it taken any time for her to realize that she was expecting too much. She very thoughtfully left it to me to choose a song and I planted a Hritik Roshan song as my wish. It was from the movie Kaho na Pyar Hai and the song, Pyar ki Kashti main. It took about 10 minutes for me to come close to the first step and then the next ten minutes passed on discarding countless of steps that I was way above my skill to perform. My sis’ patience was still intact.

The next dance was my sis choice from the movie phir bhi dil hai hindusthani and the song Ban ke tera Jogi”. That song had beautiful small steps that seemed danceable. Sis was about to start and she started scrutinizing her own steps and said- “Bhaiya, I think the steps are very girly”. Obviously she did not wait for my affirmation and we started hunting for a boyish song till we zeroed down to “Lose control” from rang de basanti.

I was happy to have this song. The only problem was that my sister had to first come up with a step, practised it for some time and then had to come back to teach me. My sis’ level of enthusiasm to teach me dance quickly did not permit her to continue with that song too. The close contender of Lose control was Oh! Humdum Soneeyoo re from Saathia. Sis was determined to teach me this time without changing any further. The steps she told me is called hip hop it seems. The next fifteen minutes I could mimic a very distorted form of dance step what sis taught me and that too for just the first line of the song. Finally I gave up to my sis’ patience as it was impossible to imbue any dancing skill further at least at that moment. Sis was in a mood to teach me steps for at least a paragraph but gave up to my exasperation of the moment.

The rest of the evening she flaunted Papa and Mummy as how she taught me dancing but never asked me to show them the steps though (thankfully!). She also kept an extra darling attitude for the entire evening. She showered some sweet kisses on my cheeks and gleefully played with my nose.

I would be having my next dance lesson tomorrow and maybe able to complete the steps for the first paragraph. But let’s see if sis can keep her calm tomorrow too... .

Papa and Daughter Pact

I was to my way back home, leaving Bangalore forever. It had been more than a decade when I have been out from my parents and sister for education. Crazily one day when I was fed up with my job which was taking me nowhere, where I wished to be; I placed my resignation and within two months I was flying towards my native. I shall find a new job or go ahead with my higher studies but primarily I wished to spend time with Mom, Dad and my sweet sister.

My sister planted a kiss on my cheeks and Mom gave me a fulfilling warm hug as soon as I entered the house. My sis did not wait much for any formal permission and invaded my luggage. Among couple of things that she directly declared to be hers now on, she was very specific for the baby pillow, “Pooh”. To make sure that we all understood what she meant, she kept the pillow by her side all the time; while studying, while watching television, during meal and obviously she slept with that too. After couple of days when she was quite sure that we have got her point she relaxed a bit of her possessive gestures. Instead of keeping the pillow by her side while studying and meals she would keep it on the bed or sofa nearby. Well, we all acknowledged her possession by not touching her Pooh.

It was one afternoon, few hours after lunch she could not find her Pooh. On intensifying her search she found it to be under Dad’s head, which he used as a pillow. To my utter surprise she did not give any reaction and went back to her studies. That night she slept with Pooh as if she was her Mummy and she missed her so much.

The next day too Dad slept with Pooh under his head in the afternoon to which sis did not refute at all again. And soon this followed every day. Dad won’t claim the pillow at night and sis won’t claim it in the afternoon as if a tacit pact is on effect. To me this seems to be a tradition now.

I surely missed these little understandings while I was out for my education. I am bit habituated to be living alone and having everyone around is an entirely different experience. But being at home with everyone feels like being associated and there is no substitute of this feeling. I wished if Pooh could have felt so, but surely Pooh to my Sis is like Hobbs to Calvin.

My Sleeping Beauty

We were to see the movie “The little Mermaid” together yesterday night. I got bugged by the way I was handling few of the things and did not feel like watching. My sis turns up at 11 PM almost to watch it but I had to disappoint her saying that I do not feel like watching it at this very moment. To my astonishment I did not find her disappointed and she clearly denied to watch herself alone. “We shall watch it tomorrow, together” was her conclusive reply and she went to bed. Even I did not drag my night long. I slept off with the dream of me as a champion of Hogwarts to win the triwizard championship which was unmistakably due to the book I was reading.

As planned I woke at 4:30 AM to an alarm tone which was a recording of my sister shouting – “Get up...Get up ... it is early in the morning... go and have your brush and do not fall into the mind-trap that will temp you to sleep again...”. This recording blared continuously till the time I left my bed and walked to the bath room for my daily chores. “Sweet Sister” my mind exclaimed!

I dressed up for my exercise. Found Mom and Dad sleeping and even my sister was not done with her sleep too. My sis covered herself from head to toe with the bed sheet. I could not resist removing the cover from her head and pampering her while she slept. She was no less cute to me now than the time she is awake. I brushed her hair which she never allows me to touch when she is awake due to some sort of kiddie superstition. With my last few strokes to her round nose I was ready to go for my run.

I needed someone to lock the gate as I could not carry the whole bunch of keys while I set off to run. The way every one was sleeping so peacefully I did not want to wake anyone up and did my exercise at home itself.

Sis has asked me to wake her up during the morning tea. Waking her is the next best thing I like other than playing with her cheeks and nose. I tickle her, as it is the only effective thing to wake her up. She would be grumbling, requesting and even whine a bit to leave her but I just love her doing that. That is also the time she gets a lot of pampering which I she enjoys. I have to admit Papa does a better pampering than me but as I am at home I will be getting the honours to wake my sleeping beauty up.

Ok it is the time now to wake my sweet sister up (a delightful sigh)!!!

A Prayer

I was in third standard I believe when I came home to find our neighbour aunt at our place. It was 5 in the evening, my usual time to get back home. I found everything usual except my mom who was missing. Dad later in the evening said – “Your Mom is in the hospital to get you a baby brother or sister”. Believe me those were the exact thing said to me when I inquired. I was waiting desperately for tomorrow when I would be having a brother or sister as promised to me by Dad.

I cannot lie myself. I knew I wanted a sister not a brother. I remember my Mom-Dad buying rakhi for me and asking some girls to tie me. I was quite happy with that deal too. Just that once (I still remember) I was denied and came back and asked Mom only if I would have one sister. I don't remember myself crying but obviously remember how I felt. I wished if Mom is getting me a sister.

The next day it was Dad who got me ready for school without messing too much. My Dad does not believe in presence of God but always asked me to offer my prayers and then leave for school (for a reason that I now understand). "May be today you can pray to God asking Him a sister". I nodded innocently at my Dad's suggestion. Our house at that time was small and we could offer just a shelf on the wall to God. I do not remember the exact words I prayed with but it must have been one of an innocent prayer. To this day I do not remember praying as sincerely as I did then. My prayers were silent but I knew how dearly I wished to have a baby sister for myself. If I were to pick my truest moment in life, I am sure it would have been that very moment.

Dad came home by 7 in the evening with a broad smile and said- "We shall go to meet your sister tomorrow in the hospital". I don't exactly remember what my response was at that moment. I was surely happy but did I jump or scream or run about I don't remember. What I remember was a little "Thank You God" prayer the next morning and sitting on the pillion of Bajaj Super, the newly first ever vehicle of our family and riding to meet my "Sister".

Mom was lying on the bed and looked weak. Her face said that she missed me as I did and gave me a wave on my head. In moments a nurse came with my sister but I being the tiny one then she had to lower her to let me have a look. My sister was sleeping. I can’t help touching her fingers which were so much smaller than mine; even a pair of small eyes and a very small nose was at its place. The nurse then took her back to some place and after a while Dad dropped me to school.

At some point in life we feel we have grown big and that day was exactly that. I was no longer the smallest one in the family.

This blog is coming at the mid of night because my sis was all time awake and I had to dance with her (in my crooked way) to make her go to bed. I do not want to tell her about this blog but let her find it herself. Tomorrow I need to wake up at 5 AM in the morning to leave her to the bus stand. I am quite enjoying doing these little things for her.

Continuing my Bhai-giri now on, I shall be revealing my baby-sister-sweetness in my life; it is so unimaginative a life without her. What actually makes me wonder is the prayer that did the trick for me.