Updating things....

Growing up with siblings can be one helluva fun. At times, I imagine myself without my brother and sister. How boring can life get? Personally, I am the sort of person who would have never cut classes to go to a cinema. Yet I am quite the antithesis of what I used to be….thanks to my siblings!

So now I go nostalgic as I prepare myself to go down the memory lane, trying to relive some of the moments while growing up. But I seriously dunno where to begin. Shall I begin with how my sister, elder to me by two and half years, when she was a eleven year old broke [ahem…sorry smashed…with a stone] my mother’s brand new ‘HMT’ watch that was gifted to her by her brother. Amma walks in from office to find my sister busily smashing the watch. Aiding her, watching and applauding the action was my brother. And when amma asked my sister why she did it, her reply was “simply, I felt bored.” And my mother, being who she is left it at that!

My sister was particularly popular with the male cousins…the reason, she loved cricket, she used to throw herself completely into the game, could recount any statistic detail involving the game [ despite the fact that she is severely allergic to numbers, a trait that she has successfully passed on to me] Me being me, just used to sit and watch. [Thank God that I was not that girlish to play with dolls.]But I do remember one attempt in which I tried to ape my sister, I actually tried to play cricket! This was about when I was eight years old. I remember this incident with a clarity that amazes me, probably because it was one of the cruelest things that I ever did.I was declared out within the first few moments after I started to bat. As usual, I could not take defeat that easily. I argued till my throat was soar that I was not out, but when I realized that the support for me was next to non existent, I threw the bat in the air, and just my luck, it hit one of the players on his nose. His nose broke and you can imagine the rest!!! That was it.

Immediately after that we tried table tennis at home. We had been a to holiday at my uncle’s house in Ernakulam. It was a Government quarters that had a badminton and tennis court, a TT table and all such things. So after that wonderful summer vacation which included learning that detested TT, we returned to our base determined to extend our holiday mode at our home. It was the time when a new term was about to begin and appa had got all our books freshly bound. My sister being the generous soul that she is, decided to use the bound cover of her books as the TT bat.[ although I do remember having a TT bat at our home…okay lets just say that my sis was a creative person] So within the first week of the term her bound books were unbound! Amma was aghast and appa being the optimistic person that he is took some of the books for rebinding. But my sister’s passion for the game continued until she was sent to formal table tennis coaching!

A hundred events similar to these marked the years that I am spoilt for choice over which to recount. But I will remain grateful to her for making my under-grad college life simply wonderful. She was my senior at college [was in her third year] and her friends had laid down a strict clause to others not to rag me. Although it did not help me at first [people were openly antagonistic] things gradually improved.“College is gonna be boring,” I said to her on my first day at college. “No, it is not” she said and took me backstage to watch the fresher’s performance.[Generally that kinda privilege is allowed for the biggies of the college and first years are almost never allowed.] And a week she literally dragged me to the union room to say to the literary secretary that I would participate in college debates.She helped me perfect the art of never attending class but still maintain a 96% record in the register. Thanks to her and her friends notes my class never bothered taking down notes during lectures. I was quite generous with the photocopies of her notes and generally prevented any of my friends from taking notes.

To her expert tip, I owe the experience of sitting in the last bench for three years of my college. [and what fun did we have] One of the best things about sitting in the last bench in a class of almost a hundred girls, a class that has two entrances is that it is easier to crawl out when the class is on. This was a common feature during the poetry class, although I’ve never attempted it [found it extremely stupid…it is much easier to walk out] it was hilarious to watch the girls in action. So, her I am, what I am today and at least a part reason of me being me goes to my siblings! [will continue about my brother some other time after I’ve obtained the copyright permission]
Vini.