My earliest memory was that of a wetness, spreading across my side of the bed. It was my sister again. Her incontinence had me up that and almost every other night. Why ? Oh why?! had Allah burdened me with a twin. I hated her as much as I loved her, but I couldn't for the life of me, tolerate her.
Don't get me wrong, she was the sweetest of sisters, willing to share and easy to boss. But she was a shadow I could'nt get rid of. Babyhood went in getting used to having her with me constantly. You name it ? We shared it ! From crib to clothes, from baths to boyfriend, on facebook only, since we were moslems, and not really allowed to mingle, we shared it all. Bitterly Iwould say out aloud, "till death do us part," and she would repeat it like a vow after me.
A typical day for me, started with the feeling of being weighed down. Yes, again, she had rolled onto my side of the bed. Pushing her off, I would turn off to sleep some more. But no. She wanted us up and off, or we'd be late for school. Mornings were when she made life miserable for me, nagging me until everything, ablutions, baths, uniforms, breakfasts et all, were done, and we reached school.
Because we were twins and in the same class, she would still be behind my back. Shared benches, tiffin boxes, lessons, friends! Oof, I was sick and tired of her, before we had even reached puberty. And then we got our periods. The parents went thru hell as they put up with my daily tantrums. Sigh, yes. I was the nightmare teen, and I hurt everyone and fought with everyone on a daily basis. This was until the day my long suffering sister, was admitted to hospital with severe tonsilitis.
Seeing her so sick shocked me into docility. The rebel in me was finally reined in. Life, however continued to be difficult. But I had realised, that it was my fate to be her twin, and that the more I made life miserable for both of us, the more difficult life was for everyone. The shrew had finally been tamed.
College was better, because I was studying my favorite subject History, and I discovered the world of books. From studying Shakespeare, the world of drama opened up to me. I longed to be an actress, my encouraging, loving audience, my sister also got enthralled and carried away with me and my dreams and fantasising. The best period of our lives, we lived,ate and slept theatre.
For our seventeenth birthday, our parents threw us a surprise birthday party, a come-as-your-favorite-shakespearean-character. That day was the happiest as also the saddest day of our lives. After the guests had left, my sweet Laila, my sister, collapsed.
As we rushed to hospital, Doctors, insisted that we be hospitalised immediatly. It couldn't be put off anymore, they insisted. WE ? Yes, we. You see we were conjoined from the head from birth. Now the do or die moment was upon us. Either we separated and died or didn't and died too.
As we were being rushed into the theatre, the operation theatre, we reached across the tourneys and held hands, her trusting, childlike eyes looked into mine,"Till death do us part, darling" I whispered. Her faint reply, "Till death do us part" was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed. Forever.
Don't get me wrong, she was the sweetest of sisters, willing to share and easy to boss. But she was a shadow I could'nt get rid of. Babyhood went in getting used to having her with me constantly. You name it ? We shared it ! From crib to clothes, from baths to boyfriend, on facebook only, since we were moslems, and not really allowed to mingle, we shared it all. Bitterly Iwould say out aloud, "till death do us part," and she would repeat it like a vow after me.
A typical day for me, started with the feeling of being weighed down. Yes, again, she had rolled onto my side of the bed. Pushing her off, I would turn off to sleep some more. But no. She wanted us up and off, or we'd be late for school. Mornings were when she made life miserable for me, nagging me until everything, ablutions, baths, uniforms, breakfasts et all, were done, and we reached school.
Because we were twins and in the same class, she would still be behind my back. Shared benches, tiffin boxes, lessons, friends! Oof, I was sick and tired of her, before we had even reached puberty. And then we got our periods. The parents went thru hell as they put up with my daily tantrums. Sigh, yes. I was the nightmare teen, and I hurt everyone and fought with everyone on a daily basis. This was until the day my long suffering sister, was admitted to hospital with severe tonsilitis.
Seeing her so sick shocked me into docility. The rebel in me was finally reined in. Life, however continued to be difficult. But I had realised, that it was my fate to be her twin, and that the more I made life miserable for both of us, the more difficult life was for everyone. The shrew had finally been tamed.
College was better, because I was studying my favorite subject History, and I discovered the world of books. From studying Shakespeare, the world of drama opened up to me. I longed to be an actress, my encouraging, loving audience, my sister also got enthralled and carried away with me and my dreams and fantasising. The best period of our lives, we lived,ate and slept theatre.
For our seventeenth birthday, our parents threw us a surprise birthday party, a come-as-your-favorite-shakespearean-character. That day was the happiest as also the saddest day of our lives. After the guests had left, my sweet Laila, my sister, collapsed.
As we rushed to hospital, Doctors, insisted that we be hospitalised immediatly. It couldn't be put off anymore, they insisted. WE ? Yes, we. You see we were conjoined from the head from birth. Now the do or die moment was upon us. Either we separated and died or didn't and died too.
As we were being rushed into the theatre, the operation theatre, we reached across the tourneys and held hands, her trusting, childlike eyes looked into mine,"Till death do us part, darling" I whispered. Her faint reply, "Till death do us part" was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed. Forever.
this piece was the one you hid from me in my trips to Mumbai..finally read it..brilliant brilliant moving piece..
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