Author : Sushma Tripathy
How different we are from each other! Introvert big brother and an extrovert me, the little sister. He is quiet, bossy and stubborn. I am the chatty one.
Back in the day, I used to envy my friends for having that “cool bro” which everyone talked about.
I remember telling my brother one day, “you know my friend has the world’s best brother !” He would reply with only one word, so?
With only a year gap, we both always tried to prove our point. We never accepted each other and always blackmailed each other for sharing secrets with our parents. We both agreed on only one point that our rivalry will go down in the history and we are bound to bear the consequences of being born and addressed as siblings. While you all will nod and say, yeah..me too. There is absolutely no exaggeration when I say that this is for real.
Cricket bat, hockey bat, even the wooden cloth washing bat were used more for resolving the fights than for the original purpose they were made for. We had serious relationship issues and not the ones where you fight for materialistic things. The ” attachment theory” never worked for Bhai and me.
I remember my mother used to cry sometimes mumbling that, what in the earth will solve their conflict?
And things changed when I got married.
Distance played a big role in bringing us slightly closer.
Walking together through a series of personal incidents laid the foundation of indestructible closeness between us.
We learned to accept each other the way we are. The differences that annoyed us previously, started working for us now. And we could finally see a certain kind of balance in our relationship.
We hang up on each other when we disagree, we still argue and even avoid each other. Bhai still gets angry for my behaviour and I equally get pissed off with his words. But deep down there is an intuition that works for us in such scenarios.
We don’t cuddle or giggle aloud or pose together for some cool pictures.
Showering each other with gifts or emotional messages has not yet found its place in our relationship.
From tormentors to counsellors, we have come a long long way.
Ours is a bond made up of powerful transitions, unvoiced apologies, resilience through thick and thin, intense admiration sans any sophistication.
For every sibling bonding, the definition is different. Ours is blooming with each passing day. What’s yours?
