I must've been dreaming! It was so real. Just as always...
There were two new shirts and he let me take the one I liked better! He didn't try even one of them, while I tried on both. In fact, I even tried one over the other. And then handed him the slightly brownish one because I always fancied white-based shirts. They were a good contrast on me...
He was nine years older than me. Like a brother! For a long time growing up we would both get the same material of cloth, he would get a full sleeve shirt and trousers made out of it and I, the little guy, would get short sleeves and shorts. We looked like brothers...
And then I hit my growth spurt, late into the teens and soon I was there, almost as tall as him. It's when I started vying for the same shirts he wore and of course, I was grown up. I wanted trousers! That only meant that we stopped buying the same material. We could have looked like twins...
He took the brownish shirt, without the slightest shrug of the shoulder. He even managed a smile...
We were in that room! We shared it. We both slept on the floor (though he would arise hours before). Half the wardrobe was his and the other half was mine. Really doesn't matter, does it, when we just wore whichever shirt we liked? Neither his, nor mine...
We ate! It was no different then. If there was that last treat left in the dish, he would let me have it. It wasn't the law! It was just assumed. Whoever was serving, they knew it. Everybody knew it. If there was something to be given up, he'd be the one giving it up...
We lay in our spots on the floor! The TV was on. That's how we watched it all night long. No eye doctor would approve of it but none knew why neither of us wore eye glasses either. My son, had he been there then, would've said, "that's how we rolled"...
And then that fleeting moment! He looked me in the eye and said something. I think I heard him. But I couldn't tell. I looked him back in his eyes. Rather in surprise. "Is this real? Did he just say that"? Truly, I was happy. Because finally, he was asking me for something...
Almost everyday, staring at him in that disbelief, I wake up! Then I feel lost. Even so wretched. "What did he ask me for? And why did I wake up before I could give it to him. Why am I so, that even in my dream, he won't let me give...
They say it's a psychological fact that when someone appears in your dream, it means they miss you! How could it be? They must be wrong. For ever since he's been gone, over 9 years ago, I'm the one who's missed him...
Maybe, he never left...
You'll never get a day older Sundar! But soon, I'll be as old as you. Some day I hope to be to someone, an Uncle as precious as you...
There were two new shirts and he let me take the one I liked better! He didn't try even one of them, while I tried on both. In fact, I even tried one over the other. And then handed him the slightly brownish one because I always fancied white-based shirts. They were a good contrast on me...
He was nine years older than me. Like a brother! For a long time growing up we would both get the same material of cloth, he would get a full sleeve shirt and trousers made out of it and I, the little guy, would get short sleeves and shorts. We looked like brothers...
And then I hit my growth spurt, late into the teens and soon I was there, almost as tall as him. It's when I started vying for the same shirts he wore and of course, I was grown up. I wanted trousers! That only meant that we stopped buying the same material. We could have looked like twins...
He took the brownish shirt, without the slightest shrug of the shoulder. He even managed a smile...
We were in that room! We shared it. We both slept on the floor (though he would arise hours before). Half the wardrobe was his and the other half was mine. Really doesn't matter, does it, when we just wore whichever shirt we liked? Neither his, nor mine...
We ate! It was no different then. If there was that last treat left in the dish, he would let me have it. It wasn't the law! It was just assumed. Whoever was serving, they knew it. Everybody knew it. If there was something to be given up, he'd be the one giving it up...
We lay in our spots on the floor! The TV was on. That's how we watched it all night long. No eye doctor would approve of it but none knew why neither of us wore eye glasses either. My son, had he been there then, would've said, "that's how we rolled"...
And then that fleeting moment! He looked me in the eye and said something. I think I heard him. But I couldn't tell. I looked him back in his eyes. Rather in surprise. "Is this real? Did he just say that"? Truly, I was happy. Because finally, he was asking me for something...
Almost everyday, staring at him in that disbelief, I wake up! Then I feel lost. Even so wretched. "What did he ask me for? And why did I wake up before I could give it to him. Why am I so, that even in my dream, he won't let me give...
They say it's a psychological fact that when someone appears in your dream, it means they miss you! How could it be? They must be wrong. For ever since he's been gone, over 9 years ago, I'm the one who's missed him...
Maybe, he never left...
You'll never get a day older Sundar! But soon, I'll be as old as you. Some day I hope to be to someone, an Uncle as precious as you...
