Two sisters

I lead an interesting life. Small and insignificant, probably, but adventurous and full of new experiences. I have come to believe that I have a knack for making my life thus - being drawn to unusual and novel experiences - and staying small and insignificant all the time. I chance upon the profoundest of reflections when observing the general humdrum of life. I am often told that I read too much into ordinary things. May be, I do. I have also learnt that I hold on too tightly to a few memories.

I take the public bus to work every morning. It takes me less than twenty-five minutes to get to my desk from the time I leave my apartment in the morning. The bus-ride is usually between ten to fifteen minutes. Even in the badly maintained, rickety public buses, the morning ride is a pleasure. The buses are largely empty, roads are clear, no traffic delaying the early morning flight of the bus, fresh and cool breeze sweeping through my face, lush greenery on most stretches, two small lakes on the right side. Mornings are the biggest blessings of my life. The brief, but totally enjoyable and pleasant morning ride gives me a chance to observe my fellow travelers, to wonder what kind of lives they lead. Often, something I see brings back some memories.

A few mornings ago, I saw two sisters in school uniforms get on the bus, chatting away happily. They sat across the aisle from me, discussing something, oblivious of my attention. When I saw them, figures of two little girls in navy blue skirts and white blouses, wearing polished black buckled shoes and navy blue socks came floating to my eyes. One with short hair, the other with two ponytails, each with a heavy schoolbag hanging from shoulders, walking to the bright green gates of a white grainy castle-like exterior, chatting away, just like these girls. Oh! the fun those two had. Teaming up against parents, troubling the housekeeper, doing "experiments" in the kitchen, cutting off each others' hair to the horror of everyone, confusing teachers because of their resemblance, fighting, trying to second guess, jumping, playing, running a riot!! I thought about the two little girls - how far we had come in life - and my eyes moistened slightly with nostalgia, pride and a diffused sense of yearning to be a child again. It would be more than twenty-five years ago that my sister and I were like the sisters I saw on the bus, and whose picture I impulsively, albeit surreptitiously took. It was the younger one who turned around and noticed me fumbling with my relatively cheap phone camera and blinking my moist eyes. "My sister and I used to be just like you two.." I smiled.

I have always felt lucky to have a sister, a partner in crime, but it is only now that I so deeply appreciate having grown up with my sister. I know that I grew up to be a better person than I would have otherwise been, because I grew up with her.