My Sister Through My Eyes

My Sis : Through My Eyes 

Chapter - 41 (SISTERLY LOVE.) 

On a gloomy day, Sis picked up a quarrel again or did she? She asked me to put the bucket under the tap and I started yelling at her. At one point I even was shrieking at her telling her that the bucket belonged to me and whether I should fill it up with water or leave it empty, was my headache. 

Dear reader, do not take me for such a fool that I do not understand her love for me. I have already told you about what my late Ma, pragmatic that she was, used to tell me towards the fag end of her life, "Muna, tokey ja bhalobasena, erakom dekha jai na.. ( You can't even imagine how much she loves you.) But long before that I had an inkling about her love for me when Arunda, her husband, another seasoned campaigner, remarked something casually. He told me that excepting one, he knew that he did not have to contend with anyone so far as Sister's love for all and sundry was concerned. Though Arunda is an extremely intelligent man, I knew even that night when he came out to reach me at the bus stop, that he was indirectly hinting at me or was he not? 

I scream a lot at Sis, forgetting those days when I used to fight with her. It was always a one-sided fight. Sis never raised a finger on me ever! Verbally she might have threatened to slap me but I cannot recollect a single occasion when she laid a finger on me. While writing, I feel deeply ashamed to have compared her love for me to some others'. Today, I have no doubt in my mind that I have been lucky. My Ma loved me. My Mejdi's last words :

Amar Bona esechhey, amar Bappa esechhey.. ( My sister has come and so has my brother) were indicative of her love for us. But Sis has left even Ma behind when it comes to selfless love for a brother. 

When the Sister-in-law was cursing her. What were the exact words? "Muna, Bappa bujhchhey na. Tumi or ja kshoti korchho na… ( Bappa doesn't seem to understand the grave you are digging for him, Muna.) 

For a second, I was nonplussed. After all, the person cursing, should be a relative. And then I realized why people commit murders. I was so overcome with a blinding rage. My Sister-in-law, who never cared a fig about my family, was trying her best to mislead me against my Sis, someone, who would give her right arm laughingly to keep me out of harm's way! 

Thank God, my wife left me at a time when I nearly got mixed up between her love and Sister's for me. Sis has quarreled with others for me. But when she was being humiliated, I didn't utter a word. Later, when I was trying to talk sense with a brother, another Sister-in-law, came running down, shouting :

"Tomra bhebechho ki? Tomra sabai okey apoman korbey? " (What have you people concluded that you can go on insulting your brother?) I kept

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quiet for I loved this Sister-in-law a lot. I could have replied back stating that my Sis or I, for the matter, did not insult anyone. It was them who were taking advantage of being our elders. But that day I made up my mind never to forget the pre-planned humiliation that Sis was subjected to that bleak, painful evening. 

Coming back to Baudi, my sister-in-law's curse for Muna, I know it even now that God will never punish this amazing sister of mine. For loving a brother or other siblings can never be a sin. She may not be very vocal, very expressive about it, but I have no doubts now that after Ma, no one, not even my daughters, would ever come to love me so much, I know that I am to be blamed for this as I could never express my love for my daughters, worried sick that the least bit of expressed love, might spoil them for good. 

Coming back to Sis, I feel ashamed that I got mixed up between my love for my Sister and my love for my wife. A wife, unless she happens to be your soulmate, would leave you at the drop of a hat if things do not go her way. A Sister NEVER unless she is compelled to. In the sixty years I have had the good fortune of knowing my Sis, she never asked for a rupee from me. She has given me abundantly instead. When she is cooking for me, doing the dishes, even with a meagre amount in my hand, I feel like the richest man in the world. I feel ashamed that when one medium, Father Padre, kept writing to me about the bad influence in my life who was casting an evil spell on me, I didn't even spare thinking about Sis! 

Let me wind up with a prophecy tonight, dear reader. You all know how the job offers seem to have eluded me since my return to The City of Joy. What were Baudi's words? That Sister was letting me dig my own grave? Sister? Did Baudi, could Baudi really mean that? God will show His chamatkar ( miracle) soon. A supposedly unlucky man like me, might start working somewhere and earning his first penny by the end of this month. Let me keep my fingers crossed till then. When the worship of Goddess Durga looked like a distant dream at 41, when inclement weather was threatening The Last Puja, I wrote that Ma Durga would arrange Her Own Puja at our ancestral. She didn't fail me. This time when the prospect of landing up with a job sometime soon, looks like abnormally bleak, I am reminding you all about Her magical power. 

If Ma Durga so wills, even a cursed soul like me, would get employed again. I will hopefully, never suspect Sister being an evil influence on my life thereby bringing the smile back of the face of the Goddess again, and the blessings of my late parents and all those siblings long gone, will keep on being showered on my head. Never doubt your sister, dear reader, for unfortunate is the one who has never known any SISTERLY LOVE.