As August drew to a close and September began, the trademark beauty of the leaves changing colour began to appear on the trees throughout town. The leaves weren't the only things turning red though: as it grew closer to the beginning of the school year, tempers started to flare up within the Sinha household as my parents went about their annual "work-hard-in-school" talks. For me, however, it made a wonderful change not to be involved in the discussion, as I was not heading back to university this year.
On the morning of September 1st, the day before school was due to begin for Sid, I wandered around the house with nothing to do. My parents had taken our grandparents for a walk around town. They had been with us for a little over a week now, and were due to stay for another two before going back to India. The past week, though fun, did get a little trying for Sid and myself; it wasn't that we didn't enjoy having our grandparents around, but they always acted as if we were still kids, and talked to us the same way. It had led to us maintaining straight faces and hiding the fact that we wished they would treat us at least like teenagers, if not adults. So on this sunny Monday morning, as I strolled into Sid's room, it came as no surprise to me that I found him in his room, looking disgruntled. "Is that look on your face because you swallowed something gross, the countless "Oh, what a cute little baby!" treatment or because of all the back-to-school talks over the last couple of days?" I asked, unable to keep a small smile from playing at the corners of my mouth.
Sid scowled at me. "Shut up," he muttered. "You'd be in this state too if you had to go through those school talks, the treatment from Grandma and Grandpa doesn't even come close." This time I laughed openly.
"You forget that I'm five years older than you and I've gone through those talks five more years than you have, except this year," I pointed out. It did nothing to alleviate his mood.
"Yeah? Well it still sucks. How come you've never gotten mad at them when they tell you the same thing every year before school starts?"
"I can control my temper way better than you, for starters," I chuckled with a shrug. "I don't usually raise my voice, but that's because I can control myself."
"How, though?" he demanded. I looked at him, a little confused.
"What do you mean how? How what?"
"How do you control your temper?" Sid persisted. I thought for a moment before I answered.
"It's kind of simple, actually. You let things get to you too easily, so you get upset. For me, for example, if someone's saying something to me which I know is wrong, like if you told me I was stupid," he snorted with laughter, "then all I would do is let it go in one ear and out the other. If what I'm hearing is not worth my time, then I tune it out. So I don't usually get upset."
Sid looked thoughtful. "I don't know if I can do that," he said, frowning a little. "I don't know how to not let stuff affect me."
"It's not easy, it'll take time," I reassured him. "But if you actually try, for a long period of time, it'll come naturally after a while."
"So you never get angry now?"
I smiled. "Of course I get angry, I just don't show it. I keep it to myself most of the time, so I don't bother anyone else with it."
"But you're not supposed to bottle in your anger, right?" he continued earnestly. I stared at him, not sure whether to answer this one. I had an answer, but I didn't think it was one that would help him.
"Don't worry about me," I said vaguely, but with a tone of finality. "I'm able to handle myself just fine, thank you. You just work on keeping your temper in check." And with that, I walked out of his room before he could ask any more questions on the subject. The conversation had been heading for dangerous waters, and I may have said something which I neither wanted to say nor wanted him to hear. I had no doubt that I would have to talk to him about this sooner or later, but the priority for me at the moment was to help him try to develop a calmer temperament before he did something he would regret.
