My band of brothers

This post has been long due. My brothers are characters that need to be written about and today I am in the mood to let it flow. The trigger was actually an incident that took place today, which I will write about towards the end of the post. 

To start with, my younger brother is the delight of the family. He always complains about how he hates to tell jokes when I am around. Reason: I laugh even before the joke has been completed. In my defence I'd like to state that his actions are enough to make anyone laugh. Parker has been the baby of the family for over two decades now. Unlike us, he did not have to do any chores and was the pampered one in the family. From my mother to my eldest aunt, everyone dotes on him till date. I don't know if this is something I should write on a public blog but he used to pee right uptil his eighth standard. Doctors said that it was some problem and he would be cured soon so my mother tried every trick in the book. She got him medicines, coconut water from Siliguri, consulted priests etc. As sisters, our task was to wake up every morning, check his room, take the wet mattress to dry out in the terrace and not utter a word about it. As we grew up, he realized his sisters' worth. Not in the best way possible because he graduated to selling our pictures to boys who were interested and on other days made them pay for his meal in the local restaurant or canteen. Exploitation in a new avatar.

The second brother I would like to write about is someone I have lost touch with, and all it took was two years. I used to get along with him the most. I always felt the need to seek his guidance during stressfull times. Not anymore though. He is a married man now and has his own set of priorities so I have decided to stay away from his universe. That said, now I want to spend a little time on Agya Carma Sonam. Yes, he likes to spell his name that way. He is my late aunt's only son and we have literally grown up together. If my late Ajo is to distribute his blessings among his grandchildren then he would get the best of it all. He has single handedly taken care of the former. Currently, he stays in the capital and is working hard to make a man of himself. I visit him whenever time permits. He likes me around because both of us share the OCD syndrome and our bond is the strongest among cousins.

I have a few other brothers spread around the state who I am excluding from this post, not because they are unimportant but I want to spend more time writing about brothers and protectiveness -- how the two words are synonymous when it comes to us sisters. During a winter festival in our village, my cousin was secretly meeting her then boyfriend and we were the useless pawns. Three of us had to stand in each corner of the monastery while she spoke to him in the fourth stand. All of a sudden our eldest brother came from nowhere and lashed out at us. We were humiliated in public and asked to return home at the earliest, meanwhile it was perfectly okay for them to be whiling away just because they were boys. However, the sole custodian of his sisters, if I may be allowed to say so, is Kjab. If we were to compare each other size-wise then he would probably be our youngest brother but physical appearances aside, he is the brother I'm most scared of. In my twelfth standard I participated in a basketball competition in St. Xaviers. Post swimming events, this was my first basketball tournament outside the capital and I was very excited. Pretty soon I had a guy asking me out, but before I could respond Kjab walked up to me and said these words,

"You think you are pretty? No, you are not. That boy is just fooling with you. Don't be too happy. If I see you speaking to him again, you've had it."

With those words I was made to flush any excitement I may have had then. The next day when the same boy called out for me, how I wanted to turn around and say hello but I could see Kjab standing in the far right, watching me like a hawk. Over the years I have had a major problem telling both him and Parker about men I may be remotely interested in. Yesterday a similar situation took place. We told Kjab about us and surprisingly he took it very well. Is it the coming of age? Maturity? or the fact that he actually thinks we are right for each other? I am very happy that he took it sportingly, so much so that he took me for dinner too. 

Now that I am in my room typing this piece, I just hope my brothers always protect me like they have done so far. They are my pillars and I need each of them to give meaning to my life.