Sisters in arms

My sister and I have a morbid sense of humour. During our regular outings in akki's tiny Maruti, it usually occurs to one of us that we could both meet a tragic end while on the road. And this, for some odd reason, tickles us pink. At such points we start reading out imaginary news headlines to each other regarding the so called 'tragic occurrence.’ 'Two young girls die tragically. They had even done their eyebrows nicely!' or 'Two bodies were found. One female, one slightly male, but wearing what appears to be a skirt.’ It's the kind of humour that sends us both into fits of laughter, resulting in my sister driving in very crooked, jerky, lines and inadvertently splashing puddles on rain-coated policemen, and running into stationary objects such as the pavement.

But it is also the kind of humour only the two of us can appreciate and actually classify as 'humour.’ I suppose having grown up under the same roof, with the same 'issues' to struggle with, we ended up evolving parallel senses of twisted humour. I don't really know if there is an explanation for it. Either way, it is one of life's more pleasant mysteries and I can live without getting to the bottom of it. It is interesting to have a sister, especially one like mine.

We are not very much alike, though as far as appearances are concerned we are often mistaken for twins. In actual fact, my sister is several years my senior and, and as my cousin Sunara would say, she is a "complete woman" on account of her being married and having a child.

I am, by default quite incomplete. Nevertheless, there are several reasons as to why I believe my sister is strange. For one, she is in the habit of comparing every experience in her entire life to what happened in Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. She always tells me I am like Jane but that in my case, Mr. Bingly will never fall for me because I'm a prude. Or something silly like that. She also tells potential boyfriends of mine that I think I am fat. She thinks this "promotes" me. Such comforting steps are taken in my interest.

There are many layers – mostly unpleasant – to my sister, but underneath it all, I'd have to say, she is a generous soul, for over the years she has given me several garbage bags full of hand-me-downs, which I quite frankly appreciate a whole lot. But you see, there is a catch. In Bigsisterland, giving stuff to baby sister translates into "using baby sister's cupboard space to store clothes I won't be wearing this week.” As soon as she remembers a particular top she gave me last week, she'll march down and claim it – "This is mine. I gave it to you. And that makes it mine!!" Such intricate wisdom. It baffles me.

Notwithstanding all of this however, I suspect there are a few ways in which she can be of some use to the world. For instance, I cannot fail to mention that my dear sister is well– known for her beauty tips, suggestions and general encouragement in the self-esteem department. Let me elaborate. I was having a girl-day the other week and telling her how messy and unattractive I was feeling. I was looking for a little pep-talk. And these were her most marvelous words of affirmation, "You are beautiful… but you really need to do something about your smile! Hmm... maybe you need to file your teeth down? Or wear braces!" You can imagine how uplifting that was. I did not have the courage to smile for weeks after all that was said (in love) about my teeth.

Despite her terrible pep-talk skills (and my ability to ride on her nerves), I think at the end of the day, what keeps us together is the fact that we're on the same team. One of us may have a bad inning, or get bowled out too soon, but at the end of the day we know we're only cheering each other on, in our own twisted ways, even when we laugh when we should be crying.

We laugh at ourselves a lot in the process of laughing at each other. It is healthy, if nothing else, and it is relational super-glue. I think anyone with a sibling or two knows what I'm talking about!