A Letter from a Repentant Brother to his Sister :

A Letter from a Repentant Brother to his Sister:

Dear Sister,

There is no way I can express my sorrow at leaving you from our ancestral like the way I did. I yelled at you instead of barking at Tumpa ( a niece) because I didn't want you to make the same mistakes that some of our siblings did earlier.

You remember that poem in Bengali?
Kukurer kaj kukure korechhe,
Kamor diyechhe paye,
Tabole kukure kamrano kirey,
Manusher shobha pai?
(The dog's done its job, biting in the leg,
Does it behove of a man to bite him back yet?)

Tumpa'll learn her lessons in due course, no doubt, but even as a younger bro, I considered it my bounded duty to correct your mistakes based on my notion of right and wrong. Anyway, since coming back to my flat, I've been thinking about you a lot. Especially about those days of my childhood when I was crying my heart out, scared to death of being everyone's laughing stock, having shitted in the toilet. The Massi was a demon and would have eaten me up but for your timely interference!

I can also visualise those days when I fought with you. It was a one-sided fight always as you, inspite of being my elder by two and half years, never laid a finger on me! Nor did you ever let anyone do so!

I can remember those days when I came back to our ancestral after 'a scene' with my family. Luckily for me, you returned from your matronly duties at the SNU for the holidays the very next day. From the day you came back, you were in charge. From breakfast to lunch to dinner, you took care of it all while I lazed in bed, writing!

You have always been patient with me even when I called you 'dimwit', 'dumb' and 'uneducated'! You never retaliated or tried to besmear or find faults with me like the way I did it! I should have remembered that there were not many to come to your help in the household. Ever so honest, you left the man you loved and married against the family wish when you felt that he was being evasive and ill-treating you!

I should have also recalled what our late Ma, a veteran of many battles and sacrifices, told me in her deathbed.
"Muna tokey ja bhalobasena, dekha jai na." ( You'll rarely get to see a sister loving her younger brother like the way Muna does.)

You are not getting any younger. Nearing your seventies, the progeny of late Principal J.C.Bhattacharyya will have to remember you as a hardworking, honest, loving warrior. Having watched you from close quarters, I can say with the least bit of doubts in my mind that 41, Deblane, will not see another Muna in the years to come. The times when, inspite of being broken from inside, you held yourself like a hero with the unshed tears in your eyes are materials for a folklore!
Whenever I think of the last few Durga Pujas at our ancestral home, the picture of you bringing the brass utensils (I preferred to lie down in bed having made it clear to you earlier that it was not my duty) out of the heavy iron trunk from Ma’s room down with the help of a sister-in-law flashes in my mind! I can also see you everywhere, whether it was serving the meals, going to the market innumerable times for the puja-shopping or keeping records of the expenses.

I feel sad that your detractors never gave credit where it was due. Otherwise, they couldn’t have stopped gloating about you. Most of them don’t seem to understand that it is you who have held out late Baba’s family members together. The day you are gone, whatever little ties bound us till now, will all be severed. There are times when I dread to think of what will happen when you are gone. Who will love me and forgive me all my sins like the way you have put up with them for the last so many years?

I am very sorry, Dear Sis, if I hurt your feelings. I'm thankful to The Almighty for blessing me with a priceless, peerless sister like you. If there is another life after death, I'd pray to Him to have you in my life as my sister. Forgive this arrogant, fool of a brother of yours for all his mistakes at not realising ever how to behave with an elder sister.

May God bless you always for everything you stand for, for your loving nature and kindness.

Remorsefully yours,

Bappa