My brother – has undoubtedly been my oldest friend. I realise this today as I look back several decades that somewhere along the line between mothering him, supporting him and fighting him… we became friends who could share everything with each other.
As kids, we used to play together and one of my earliest memories of us is telling him stories before we slept every night. From there to holding the mic as he sang for his bride-to-be, we have indeed come a long way.
As teenagers, we were so different and even though there were very few things we both liked, the ones we did like, we enjoyed them together. As soon as we were old enough, we were watching movies together. I remember he convinced me to watch Matrix Reloaded first day first show – right in the middle of my exams! And boy, did we love watching movies together. From The Ring to X-Men to Harry Potter, it has all been more fun because of him. Here he is, doing a cute and goofy Wolverine impression.
He was such a cute kid in school and my teachers knew him as Ankita’s brother. As he grew up, there came a time when a teacher called me Anshul’s sister! Can you imagine, that was a total role reversal… speaking of Anshul, (yea that is his name) I was the one who named him. My mom tells me this story that even before she became pregnant, I went around telling everyone that I will have a little brother and I will name him Anshul. I was all of 3 years then! The embarrassment aside, mom was also flabbergasted since we knew no one by the name Anshul. Good thing is they liked it and stuck to it.
He is super talented and though I have never admitted it to him, I know that he paints, writes and clicks better than I do. There, I have said it now and don’t think I will ever see the end of it now! Plus he is extremely musically gifted and I am completely challenged in that department. He is a largely self taught guitarist and was a part of his own band. They have done several gigs in Bangalore and I am super proud of that!
Today when I look back at all the memories, I am all warm and fuzzy inside. Me reading Harry Potter 1 and 2 to him when he was sick, him going to the mall at 7 am to pick the 6th and the 7th books for me and then letting me read them before him was so sweet of him. He has been totally supportive of me and yet he has practised live and let live. There have been times when we have not agreed with each other and have fought like all siblings do, but we have always come back to being friends.
And that I hope we always remain. I have had many good friends, a few very close friends and best friends who may have shared the spot, but this one has remained…