Karma’s Slap

Yes, Karma is a bitch. I am sure we are all very well aware of this universal truth by now; well, time better make us wiser, if not younger. Karma slaps you or gifts you, totally depending on one’s actions or lack of them. But rarely does one such slap turn out to be one of the most treasured gifts of one’s life.

My relationship with my Polk is nothing short of this. Growing up, hatred, screams, tears, and most times, indifference is what we gave and had for each other. We are in almost all of each other’s childhood memories, but merely as a spectator, for we rarely had anything to share with each other. She was my sister’s confidant, and me, her brother’s. Oh! How we wished we could have traded siblings! Perfect win-win!

 Being a year younger to her, never was a chance missed to let me know how much she despised my existence, since my birth took away from her the much enjoyed position of being the youngest in the family! One of the perks being, I was our brother’s favourite, being the only one allowed to ride his tricycle scooter. And I hated how she and my sister would gang up against me with their big girl talks, smirking at me for being uncool-ly young.  I retaliated by refusing to call her chechi even after she threw a tantrum regarding the same merely because I did not want to. Period. We stuck to our guns. Our parents tried to intervene, but soon threw up their hands in exasperation.

Yeah, we do our own thing

Fast forward to 2011, the now not so little me had to move to Bangalore to be a big girl, employed and all. This is where she came in like my Shero in shining armor! She had finally decided that she liked having a younger one to pamper and call her own little pie. Yes, she did have her moments of ‘why doesn’t this girl have a favorite color for a bucket’ to ‘why on earth is she a vegetarian’.  But no, I wasn’t an angel either.  I fought with her for pressure cooker whistles while I was sleeping away to glory on a Saturday morning and she would lose her mind over me conveniently stealing her stuff I loved. Hey! Don’t judge me, I am the younger one, and I believe it’s the unsaid right of every young one to be able to steal stuff of the older ones, no questions asked. Well, we do need to make up for all those years of bullying!

From indifference to lou

Celebrating my first pay check and just a random pastry for my cranky TC

Well, if the shoe fits....

We had plenty of those typical sister thingies too- grading all her guy friends into 3 tiers. Tier 1 comprised of the guys I could turn to eye closed in case I was stranded in a no man’s land,  Tier 2- good guys, but will flirt with me, if given the chance and Tier 3- Escape!!!! All her friends soon became my friends as well, because well, I was her Vetal, tagging along everywhere. If she needed to avoid a gathering, Neema was sick and needed company.  Sticky situation, Oh that’s Neema at her pranks, nevermind. Unavoidable meeting with a person she doesn’t want to meet- Oh Neema is alone and cranky, had to bring her along! We were each other’s companion, excuse, strength and so much more and we still are! There was the other person at every beck and call and neither of us was ever left making plans for the weekend because there was never lack of a companion. Duh! Vetal, here. Most people did not even realize we are cousins; they just assumed we were best friends.

Vetal-ing dutifuly

When I moved to Mumbai, more than my job, or home, I missed her. I missed going crying and yelling to her when distressed to just throwing her off the bed when she pulled the blankets. I missed our late night talks and random all though the day texting. I missed eating out with her and I missed showing her how to shake her bum in the name of dancing. I missed yelling at her about not eating healthy while I hogged on the most sinful cheesy fries. I missed fighting with her but having to patch up soon, keeping our egos aside since we had more important things to share with each other. I missed just about everything about her. Of course, my wonderful friends in the city were always there for me, but a sister is irreplaceable.  After all, she is the only one I can fight with and have an absolutely serious conversation in parallel with! Hell, my sisters even sketched my love story before I realized it!

Trips, baking, taking over Vickyanna's bullet and simply just yapping the night away in front of our lappies, chasing my cab at the airport in filmy style to see me off!

Well, she’s in Pluto now, okay, Melbourne, not that it’s any closer than Pluto. And I miss her. I hate the time difference and I hate waking up on Saturday mornings and not being able to text her if she’s up and if we have any plans for the day. But yeah, technology does make it a wee bit easier. So fine, I am not complaining. I will just have to be a grown up and adult about it. Sigh.

 Since I don’t like posing, this is her idea of clicking my candid pics