Gudiya ki Behan

There are some relations that are thicker than blood. I’ve a few ones whom I can address more affectionately than my blood-relations. From Amrita, I got a brother and sister. I don’t intend to talk about brother as I’m not sure whether he remembers me so. Definitely I know I’ll be in my sister’s heart forever…

Well, her name is Ashwathi, my PG senior. Chechi (translation: elder sis) is a chatterbox and never keeps her mouth shut. I started noticing this female from my hostel’s reading room. A girl who reads only The Hindu’s editorial and continuously speaks to hostel mates sitting around in her Thrissur slang Malayalam. Those encounters in newspaper room made us close.

One day, she told my face and actions remind her of younger sister. After that, she calls me by her sister’s pet name, Ammukutty. I love her calling me so. She has so many problems in her household, but her face or body language gives no hint of that. Whenever I’m depressed, I’ll start whimpering and she’ll pat on my shoulders and say, “potte ammu” (don’t worry Ammu)… Sometimes I simply make reason just to hear such words from her. I could say anything from a simple assignment to very serious issues.

While being with her, I never felt I don’t have a sister. Once she left the college, I started feeling a huge emptiness. I didn’t go to reading room for many days and I started using the computer in her class in which she worked. If she was there with me, I won’t have slipped off from my focus!!! It was then I realized I love her so much. Her advices made me to go on.

When someone asks where she is now, I have no answer. The only thing I make out about her is that she is working in a company based in Bangalore. Also I’m sure, every year both of us will call on each other’s birth date to wish.

Wherever Chechi is, I know she’ll go through this. With a smile she’ll whisper, “I too miss you Ammu!”