Hooked on brotherly love...

The prospect of going to university far away from home was particularly hard for me, as my brother Abhishek is only five (13 years younger than me). I looked forward to seeing him in my semester break, as I barely communicated with him from Mumbai, because he never likes talking over the phone. When I reached home, I discovered that not only had the artwork on the walls flourished in my absence, but there was a new fish tank in the living room. "That goldfish", said my mum, pointing to the bigger of the two, "is Jennifer and the smaller one is Abhishek." "Are you telling me that you named a fish after me?" I asked. "No, Abhi named them." I was so pleased with him that I was actually excited about babysitting him while my parents went out on a Saturday. After he had his tea at noon, he decided it was time for him to have a bath. As I was drying his hair, he ordered me to "wash fish". "I've never learnt to cook anything Abhi, so if you want fish for lunch, you better wait for mum." He remained adamant and sensing a tantrum on the way, I defrosted a pizza and served him, which subdued him for a while. When my mum got back, she explained that it was a ritual for Abhi to wash the fish and the tank after his shower. I was reading a book, listening to his excited shrieks in the background as he and my mum set about washing the fish. Suddenly, he came charging at me with a mug. I looked inside and yelled. There was a fish thrashing about gasping for air. "Put it back in the water Abhi, it can't breathe outside." He was full of glee at seeing my expression but he put it back when my mum came to see what all the noise was about. My initial euphoria over my brother naming his fish after me soon evaporated when I saw what the poor fish was being made to go through. Abhi soon became quite adept at surprising me with that mug when I least expected. I resorted to locking myself in my room to avoid any confrontation. Things took an unpleasant turn when I discovered he had been experimenting with my eye make-up and had tried to make his car swim along with the fish. I went to the kitchen to speak to my mum about his fish-washing antics. "He's having fun" was her reply. "That's not fun, it's torture", I said. My dad joined in. "When you were a child, your granny bought these multi-coloured chicks for you to play with and you strangled all of them. You can't accuse your brother of torture." "I didn't 'strangle' them." "You found them cute and tried to hug them but you ended up knocking the breath out of them." "That's different", I said. "I was only a baby then, but Abhi knows exactly what he's doing. He annoys the fish so he can have a good laugh seeing me squealing and running for cover." My dad had the final word. "He'll grow out of it and you shouldn't be harsh on him. He really misses you and playing around with that fish is Abhi's way of telling himself that you are still around." No argument could answer that. ¥ Jennifer Gnana is a former Bahrain resident now studying in Mumbai. Her family still live here. Copyright 2009 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group 'Hooked on brotherly love...', Gulf Daily News, December 5, 2009, Jennifer Gnana