Notes about "it" (creature)

Our first meeting was in a hospital in Mangalore. I was introduced to this pink looking creature that was cocooned in a white bundle; they insisted that it was my little sister. I don’t recall what I felt then; but the pictures show me sulking; I was clearly was not happy. Maybe I had senses at a tender age of two that life would never be the same again.I was no longer the center of attention; I was no more the baby.

As she grew up and crawled all over the place she made a bee-line for my toys and everything that was mine; this continues to this day and I kindly return the favour by borrowing her things too. As we grew older we realized that we were polar opposites and we didn’t even look alike. This gave me a brilliant idea I told her she was adopted for she didn’t resemble anyone in the immediate family, I also added that she was a monkey my parents found hanging on the trees and they chopped her tail off and decided to raise her as a human. I guess she still holds this against me and we never got along. We did have a few rare moments where we bonded like the time when we dumped most of mom’s make –up into a bucket to make a witches brew or uniting against a common enemy; but they were rare.

Then came the challenging teenage years; the territorial battles continued and manifested themselves into fights that were both physical and verbal. She accused me of stretching her top; I blamed her for running my shoe; I raided her secret stash of chocolates and ate them all and she got mad and got her revenge by some way or the other but silly things like these turned our home into a battlefield and chairs tables and glasses were used as weapons. It was usually a kick, bite, scratch, pinch, punch and pull hair routine that we followed till we were tired or till some one gave up. This continued till I moved out; not having to look at each other everyday changed our relationship and I did miss my fight buddy a lot. No could hold a candle to her when it came to fighting.

I like the relationship that we share at present; we are not the best of friends but we are not enemies either. It’s more of a live and let live kind of an arrangement. We do talk and I think we are getting close to being friends; we may not share all our secrets but we do care about each other. Being the older one I take it on myself to guide and protect her and she does come to me for advice when she needs it. We still do enjoy a playful repartee and I sometimes refer to her as “it” or “creature” affectionately.

When I was younger I told my parents that they didn’t need to have her when they had me. But life wouldn’t have been the same without my sister.

(I wrote this for renu she asked me to write about a special relationship for sakaal times and this is what I wrote, this is the un-cut, unedited and flawed version)