Dear Sis,
It's been a month since you left home & settled in a new city. It's hard to imagine my kid sister living on her own, away from her doting parents & a sister who never got tired of mollycoddling her. Maybe it's our fault that we have always treated you like a fragile porcelain doll & sheltered you from every difficulty. Like a delicate piece of crystal ware nestled protectively in cotton wool-we’ve handled you with the utmost care.And now, unprepared we let you stray into a ruthless world that is not known to have a soft corner for delicate darlings.
It must have been a nasty shock to you when your professor scolded you , for baby, you are not used to being spoken harshly to.
Shielded by us, from the rotten eggs that abound in this world & now standing all alone ,unless you learn to live by your wits you'll be devoured by the ravenous wolves-I feel scared, helpless....stranded in a different city. Damn these STD calls,I can't even wipe away those hot tears when you narrate how the senior boys from the boys hostel harass you,make your life unbearable by threatening you with dire consequences when you refuse to become their girl while fever rages through your body coz you are not used to bathing in cold water & your legs are about to give way coz u’ve never stood for 6 long hours & worked in a laboratory.
And It tore my heart when I heard you burnt your hands in that workshop of yours & bruised it as well while beating the metals into shape & were unable to pick up a pen to jot down notes, the next day in class.
It's hard to believe our little one who would have the whole family fuss over her due to a minor cut & be taken out for an ice-cream-has no one to tend to her bruises.
And baby,do you know,how furious I was when I heard the boys in your batch made fun of the bolts that you created after four hours of sweat & hardwork and how lonely you felt being the only girl in that batch.
Mom could hardly recognize you when you came home for the weekend-dark circles,insect bites all over your face,thin as a reed but you made light of the situation and said-‘Atleast, I’ll not have suitors troubling me again’.
I am amazed at your indomitable spirit which remains unfazed by the incessant power cuts in your hostel, irritating roommates who keep you awake all night with their lovey dovey talks to their boyfriends over the phone & the way you ignore the leering looks of the boys & quietly swallow the indignities in the name of ragging.
Engineering colleges were always infamous for their ragging excesses but what horrified me the most,is the way 'strange' women with scarlet lipstick & rouge standing prominently on their cheeks are ushered into the boys hostel in the nights, not to mention the innumerable parlours overflowing with pornographic flicks that flourish near the campus. And professors who are equally notorious.
Sometimes I wonder where is our generation headed....
But did I tell you sis, you've made us proud-the way you deal with the tricky situations that life throws up, with a grace & dignity that is surprising at a tender age of seventeen.
Yeah,yeah,I know you'll be rolling your eyes when I say you are at a tender age.And yeah, according to you-I am too old at twenty two!
And did I tell you,I was bowled over...the way you manage finances & imagine! there was a time when you thought demand drafts were meant to be purchased from banks for Rs 100.
I know you are miserable staying in a campus cut off from the pulsating city, & instead there are the druglords & their band of thugs who thrive & where girls getting kidnapped are a common affair and yet you pretend to be comfortably settled coz you don't want dad to worry about you, you don’t want to add to his already tension filled life.
And I listen helplessly to your carefully manipulated joyous voice as you tell me about the amazing placements, the top notch companies like Wipro,TCS,Oracle that visit your campus every year & how you are ready to compromise on the comforts of life to stand on your two feet and ease off dad’s financial burden.
Kiddo,did I ever tell you that you are One brave woman....
And don't you feel blue dear,not just mom,dad & me...but even Fluff is there right behind you in times like these.
Remember,it's only one's family that remains stead fast by one's side when one runs into a rough patch.
While the fake boyfriends are happy doing the disappearing act, & reappear when all is fine & the coast clear. Is it coz blood is thicker than water?Anyway, fluff refused the juicy bone mom offered her,know why?
PS-Mom misses both of us,but she misses you more- for you are the baby of the family & shall always remain one & yes, fluff misses you too.
Take care
Your sis.
