Wednesday 13 May, 2009

Chotu, my darling sister & friend

Preeti is the person i am trying to talk about here, and the fantastic relationship i share with her. The title itself is a play in contradictions. The first contradiction is her nickname chotu. Since she has grown big now (18 yrs round about) , i guess she wouldnt appreciate being called by her nick name in front of outsiders. The second one is that she is not born to my mom, but still makes me feel she is no less in value to my own sibling sisters. The third contradiction is when i treat her as my friend. A person roughly half my age and with yawning generation gap, still happens to be more or less of a friend. She considers me a friend per se, though prefers calling me Joshi Bhaiya.

One day my friend Sreenesh took me to Preeti's house. For my nature, I always dread meeting new people, when iam not in the reckoning. The first visit made me have tons of respect for Preeti's mom, and also could strike a chord immediately with her elder sister Milie. But Preeti was in my league by not opening up for a conversation.

It took another occassion to cement my ties with her family, when i accompanied my friend Sreenesh, once again to their home. Nicely cooked food, served with lots of love by Preeti's mom got me hooked to keep the visits happening regularly. In the strange land of Gujarat, i got a place to down my anchor and feel homely. Sundays i would go to their home and relish on tasty food & watch TV. As Preeti's elder sister Milie was a glib conversationist, i never felt bored being there. It took many visits to their home and slowly Preeti started opening up to me. She started sharing the news in her school, about her friends, etc.

Since i was a good listener and non-judgemental in nature, she started opening up very fast. Some issues in her life got her confused and she would consult me. I would try providing the best solution i could offer. She always liked my advices or suggestions. With time i could see that she had turned into a good talker. One thing i liked much about her was that she was ready to listen to me. Small bickerings she used to have with Milie, and i would tell her how to deal with her elder sister who has only love and concern for her.

Phone calls connected us when i wasnt going to their home. One fine day last year, my posting came to trivandrum, and i had to leave Gujarat. Among other things i was going to miss with my posting was my beloved sister Preeti. But luckily phone calls hasnt made us miss each other much. Her feathers got ruffled (i think so) when i couldnt attent her sister Milie's wedding which happened on 10 May 2009. I had missed a golden chance to meet Preeti right here in Kerala. Hopefully there will come another occassion when i could meet her soon. Until then, my unending love and prayers for her will be there as consolation.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

ohhhh thanx bhaiyaa for putting all our old memories on ur blog....
I really enjoyed while reading it...
i really missed u in milie's marriage coz u were very close to us.. Iam sure it was an unavoidable situation there otherwise u would have surely made it out....