Welcome Back Tushku

The countdown has begun. Three, two, one and … he will be here after five long years. One of my best friends and a person whom I love like crazy. I am talking about my elder brother, Aditya Khanna whom we fondly call Tushku!

When I sit back and think about him all I can remember is the fights we had over chocolates, the way his eyes would pop out as he would scream at me each time I cried in school, the way we would hide each other’s answer sheets when we scored less marks, his best friend Gopal telling me about his first crush and how I just could not identify with anything he said and the last time he came home with his locks covering 3/4th of his face and the way he would get up each morning and prepare for the marathon.

When we were growing up I always felt that life has been unfair to me as my brother was gifted with all that I did not have. He was far more intelligent, would never flunk (unlike me who would keep failing in mathematics every now and then), was smart, opiniated, a teacher’s pet and a complete mama’s boy. There was a time when I envied him and felt that it would have been better if I never had him in my life. But once he moved out of home i.e. when he left for MUWCI, I realised how much I loved him. Suddenly I felt that somebody so important was missing from my life. I had to learn to live life without him. Suddenly there was nobody to make nimbu paani (a special preparation which he made with double the sugar required in the drink and merrily left the lemon seeds floating in the water) for me, teach me those boring history and geography lessons and tell me how I should deal with situations.

Though I know he is coming home only to go back again I just can’t contain my happiness.