She

Being a kid was so much fun. The times when we never bothered about worldly matters. All that mattered were less important stuffs like play with friends, move around in the garden singing, imagine you are the super kid and that you can fly, make imaginary friends. Never had enough time to see things like, how clean are your nails, are they always cut neatly !! Err just an example. Trust me, am coming to the point.
So some time back, there i was lazily loitering through the early part of my Saturday. Passing me by alert, she figures out my mood and puts me on studious toil. In between her eyes are drawn to the condition of my filty nails, all grown and not cared for. She instructs me to clean them up, for which i respond with a lazy nod, and she leaves me at that. Hours pass by with two more reminders from her, and the day ends. Sunday morning, the sounds from kitchen wake me up. I get up with out any hurry and as i carry on slowly with the personal chores before breakfast, I am unassumingly caught by her again. This time she is all furious and drags me to the pipe, with a brush, soap and the manicure kit. She shouts at me and my irresponsible and hopeless mannerism, not befitting our family rules, as she cuts, scrubs, and brushes the nails of my legs and hands. I am on the verge of tears looking down at the nails . All embarrassed, small and guilty, as i stand confused, she stops working on the nails and shows me the difference between a cleaned nail and the one i was maintaining.
It was magic, i had never seen them more clean before and I have never got a chance from then on to be the object of her fury and care at the same time on this particular topic ever. Please note only on this topic.
To this day i manage to keep them clean, and took the lesson into my life. Now i tell others with filthy nails rather serious "I am sure your sister didnt tell you that you dont want to walk around with nails that looks like that" , mostly leaving them feel embarrassed too.
Well thats how she taught me difference between good and bad sometimes.
Hmm though I reproduced a lighter moment from our past, she has played the most important role in my upbringing. Today she celebrates her birthday and if there were a song to define my sis i would not find a better one than Elvis Costello's She. The lyrics goes like this.
She ...May be the face I can't forget The trace of pleasure or regret May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She ...May be the song that summer sings May be the chill that autumn brings May be a hundred different things Within the measure of a day
She ...May be the beauty or the beast May be the famine or the feast May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She... may be the mirror of my dreams The smile reflected in a stream She may not be what she may seem Inside her shell
She Who always seems so happy in a crowd Whose eyes can be so private and so proud No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She May be the love that cannot hope to last May come to me from shadows of the past That I'll remember till the day I die
She May be the reason I survive The why and wherefore I'm alive The one I'll care for through the rough in ready years Me I'll take her laughter and her tears And make them all my souvenirs For where she goes I've got to be The meaning of my life is
She