She and I, we were enemies.
She had everything I always wanted. Her parents were together, she had two older brothers and being the only daughter, she was pampered by everyone, even my grandmother! ( Maternal) As a child I never understood why my grandmother loved her more and not me.
We were girls, so why was she more cherished?
She hated me because my dad travelled to other countries and we always had foreign stuff. She hated me because I was good in my studies. She hated me because I had three sisters. She always wanted sisters! ( I never knew why and I had offered/requested/begged/cajoled her to take my sisters, but she wanted her own sisters!)
To make my life more miserable, she was the epitome of an Indian daughter. Very respectful of her elders, went to church, Started taking all the noimbu (fast) when she was 6 or 7 and could even stitch her own school uniform by the time she was 10.
Not enough, she had the hair clips my mother bought for her when she was about 7 years old till she went to University( perhaps for all I know she might even have it now) and I, lost the yellow colour sketch pen that was part of the 12 on the first day my mother bought it for me and went through tons of hair clips, erasers, etc etc.
You can only imagine my life being compared to her at every turn and how much I hated her.
Then again life has so much of twists and turns. She didn’t complete her studies, got married to a guy who squandered the family fortune, had a daughter, went back to her family home twice and was send back to her husband both times by her loving brothers and yesterday I was told that her family is so broke that they have no money for food.
Gibran’s writing about giving keeps coming to my mind.
A part of me thinks, she isn’t my responsibility. She has two brothers and umpteen number of cousins. I have just moved in to a new country, I have so much of expenses..
But someone not having food…Why is life so hard