Now that it's been almost a month that my brother's back home, I'm finally in a position to write things about him. Things that have changed, things that have not changed.

Well, he as a person has not changed a bit. It horrifies me to imagine how his room-mates must have tolerated his never-ending-walks in circles bloody all the time, his obsession for coffee shakes, his speed of words, his anger, his concern when the guilty pleasures cross the limit, etc etc etc.

There is always a patience test whenever we go to receive him at the airport. Every boy, bloody every boy of his age looks like him. Tall, dark and handsome(some of them) ;-) But this time, it was much more than just a mere patience test. It was a board exam. It was the day after the Delhi blasts and the airport seats had their day. No common man was permitted to step in - safety reasons, they say. And the whole crowd, with or without name boards was standing out. It was our bad luck that the wind didn't blow that day, and the stalls had melted ice creams and coffee-less coffees and limited packets of salted potato chips. Eager elderly ladies of the house brought the whole family to the airport half an hour before the scheduled time. They had their noses make huge clouds on the glass from where we could see passengers of the previous flight look at us like celebrities. It was undoubtedly interesting to be standing near that huge glass, listening to all sorts of comments almost each one in the crowd passed watching each passenger, but the entertainment graph fell drastically when I realized that all the mosquitoes in the world were having a ball party on top of our heads and it was uncomfortable imagining them having our blood as their feast that night. So I made my way out of the crowd, and found my father sitting on the bonnet of the first car in the parking lot, studying the other long and sleek cars parked there.

"Hi Pops, what doing here?", I asked him as I saw my sister coming towards us with a wide grin on her face, and the reason was realized on lowering my eye lids just a little - 3 packets of Lays and a cup of tomato soup in her hands. I love the fact that she's a foodie (I never told her this ever though) - she loves food...err... her type of food. Offering us the latest purchase was a formal courtesy, and we quite respected it. After she finished, we kept walking till we heard a shrilling voice announcing that his flight had arrived. The three of us entered the tired crowd, and our way till the glass again.

After not many bad guesses, we could finally picture our boy! BOY!! He looked neat - clean shaved, gelled hair, a brown T-shirt nicely tucked in a low-waist(just-about-to-fall) jeans, awesome heavy shoes (he's got a brilliant dressing sense, but I personally admire his taste for shoes the most) and the heaviest bags in the market on the trolly and a shoulder bag - huge enough to fit in his "lappy" as well. We ran towards the entrance, with what speeds, I tell you, and yeah, I hugged him first! A tight hug! He almost lifted me and the little sister with one hand each! Yo-biceps! Then the greetings and the hugs to the elders. I was more than glad that there weren't any tears this time. Everything becomes so uneasy otherwise. Anyway, a joyous event at the airport.

The driver humbly moved to the left seat, he knew the brother would drive. The elders were to come in the other car. Pa insists that the driver should drive while coming back from the airport. But this never happens. Even the driver knows this now. But what we all didn't know, was quite a surprise this time. It was - that the brother didn't drive rash! His speed was very much under control and his breaks weren't jerky. Good. We were sure of reaching home safely this time. Not that he's hurt us anytime before, just that we were never sure of this before!

Cake cutting ceremony followed by the gift distributing ceremony. The most recent of the events were the little sister's birthday and Ma's birthday, for which he didn't send gifts. The compensation was praise worthy. The little girl was gifted an enormous, beautifully packed fragrances and lotions from the Body Shop. And man, Ma's watch was the best of all his gifts. A brown, sleek, elite, expensive watch. Beautiful. He was but obviously most excited about the watch. Then, of course, the flood of chocolates( I love him!!) and a watch, a pair of shoes and fragrances for Pa. A puffed electric warmer for Badima, for her shoulders and neck. He says that buying a gift for Badima is the toughest job, and we can understand. My gift?? Well, as if he had bought one entire shop of garments, of ladies' tops rather. One full bag of tops of different sizes and beautiful colours and prints. And another bag full of fashion hand-bags, real smart ones. Honestly, I love his taste (though it's quite American) since the very time I realized that he's got a taste at all. Which one's whose, is still a debatable issue, because unlike all other normal sisters, we don't share clothes! Anyway, the fight is still on, and the brother is fed up, already!

We weren't expecting a rush the very next day of his coming back. He had to submit some forms to the DGCA, it was the due date. He also had to look for a coaching institute or a good renowned teacher for the exams that he'll now be preparing for. I also had a busy day and the little one had her school. So it had already started becoming routine days for all of us and I wasn't really liking this. I couldn't even get to spend much time with him. And it went like this for a week. A good god-damned week!!

A week later, everyone realized, that if not a big party, there needs to be some celebration. And then there was this very bright idea of dining at a 5-star hotel. The little one wore her birthday dress. Ma and Pa looked graceful. The best part of all this was, that even Badima agreed to accompany this time. Usually, it's hard to convince her to come along, when we're dining out. The place was great and the food was good, really.

And then I took out time from office to stay at home. I took a 3-day leave from office. The brother wasn't the reason, but we inevitably spent great amount of time with each other. We talked of a lot of things. And for a change, I intended to listen to him more than blabbing my endless tales.
He's still the same, the very same he was one year back. He keeps walking in circles, around the dining table, so much so, that Badima almost faints. He speaks so fast, that Pa sometimes asks him to stop, so that I can repeat. He messes the house so much, that I'm tired of cleaning my room now. I just don't do it anymore until he's asleep. I wonder if I do it just as a habit, because he wakes up before me and I see the room in a shape I don't leave it in before sleeping, sadly. He has a bad habit of interrupting in between while one speaks, in order to argue. This mostly happens when he's more than excited. And one good thing, is that he spends lavishly on his sisters.

The sisters are very possessive about him. And it's more than strange that in his presence, we almost compete for his favor. Both of us want him on her side, and the irony is that the sisters are never on the same side. This inevitably results in fights, the big ones. The stranger fact is that when the brother is not around, we discuss this issue amongst us, looking for a solution, because both of us realize this, but sadly, there seems to be none. Anyway, we're glad to have a sensible bro, who takes less interest in our fights, and more interest in stopping them, if not solving issues. Good enough, life moves on..

These days will never come back. I may have to go out of the city any day, whenever I fetch a better ob for myself, and the family is prepared already. Brother's job is such that once he is employed, he'd hardly ever sit at home. The youngest one anyway calls herself the "paraayaa dhann"(!!!) I want to make the most of THIS time we have. A healthy siblings' relationship, which I'd remember my entire life!!

:-)