A Letter to My Little Sister

Dear sister

I hope that you are doing well and that you are enjoying the stage of life that you are in.  The days when we were growing up together are a mere memory and nostalgia now.

I remember that day, from many years ago, when you appeared in my life suddenly.  I knew you were coming but when you came it felt very unexpected and for some days an unwanted event because it disturbed my routine life.  Of course, I loved you and of course I was excited but my life changed when you came.  Not everyone in the neighbourhood quite liked the fact that father was distributing sweets on the birth of a second daughter and I still remember the comments from the people celebrating “lohri” the day you were born

Dear mother and father suddenly had you to look after too.  Though I was never told nor was it ever, in any form, conveyed to me that I am responsible for you, I did just that became responsible, and I catapulted into an early teenage and adulthood!!  The speed of it was rather furious.

You were a brat and a pain to begin with since you became creative and started stuffing toys into your mouth and that too when I was baby sitting you.  The timing would be perfect and then starts the question as to whether I did anything wrong?  As you became a toddler you had that perfect sense of dress and would dress yourself in navy blue frocks and a yellow scarf and thought that you were the fashion diva.  How much i hated taking you our in outfits such as that.  You would wander off while playing and it was most embarrassing to have the whole set of neighbours and us looking for you, to find you hidden in a construction site.  Your explanation would be perfect “we were playing hide and seek, and I won”.  I still have to pinch myself to remind myself that the ordeal is over.

You, of course, had to be in the same school as me because you were admitted as a sibling under the sibling quota.  Having you there in the school bus and keeping an eye on you was an additional task, even though you had friends of your own.  Not to mention the embarrassing moment when the teacher in the bus would instruct the driver to go back to drop “preeti’s sister” because she decided to bring the glass of milk given to her in the morning.  I am sure you shone in reflected glory in school as my sister and that must have brought on a whole set of feelings and experiences with it.  That must not have been easy on you because I am the smarter one!!  You of course grew up to be intelligent, hardworking and street smart.

Your teenage was terrible.  Your were the teenager of the time and had to get into all sorts of trouble, be it with the clothes you wore, the colour in your hair, the face paint or your unwillingness to go by the rule book.  You carved your way in life and at times even though it distressed me and everyone else in the family, I was envious of you.  You were forgiven for being the younger one while I had to set an example.  You were experimenting but I had to be the role model and fair or not that is what it was.  In the meantime I got married and you were more our child than the sister or sister in law, forever getting into mischief.

For my daughter you were more than an aunt and now you are her soul companion.  With all her heart she seems to love you and yours.  I can feel it when she talks of “her aunt” to others.  It is comforting to know that you will always be there for her.

Then you suddenly one day decide to become an adult and thought you could work harder at your studies and you set your ambitions and went on to make them true.  You went to the US for further studies and did everyone proud and even though you were on a tight budget you managed to have fun, make many a friend and graduate with distinction.  Your adventures did not stop there, you travelled the world, you climbed mountains literally, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, you explored places and you used your wings to fly.  Again, I envied you, though I was very sorry that when father died you were alone in a far away place.  But then you coped and I think I did not cope as well.

You waited to marry your prince charming, giving me some anxious years and moments.  You were a beautiful bride and lets not forget the multiple day wedding in Delhi and then the wedding in Guruvayur.  I was exhausted though happy at the end of it all.  You had your fair share of troubles and illnesses, yours and your children’s, but you came through it all very well and I am proud of you.

Now you are mother of three, and you make a wonderful mother, loving and caring yet making sure that your children are guided in the right direction.  Allow them the freedom to choose what they want, dear sister, and they will do just fine.  There are a lot family who wonder how a brat turned into this magical mum!

Get on, move on, restart your career, children adjust and grow up.  When you work your children will become independent and responsible, you only need to there for them always and that I am sure you will be.  Go Ahead and make your dreams come true.  You were meant to fly so use your wings and fly high, the wind will help you to reach for the stars.