Kurukshetra

Know Me

"Ekam, have you seen my necklace?" I yelled from the bedroom as I frantically searched for it through the clothes in the laundry basket. 

"When was the last time you saw it," she asked in her ever-calm tone, though she was struggling with the tangles of her unruly curls.

I looked at her trying to recall the last time I felt it around my neck.

"Anu, have you been sleepwalking again?" she asked walking towards me. "Your lips, it's bruised," she said and scoured through her bag for vaseline.

I winced as she applied some of it on my lips "I took my tablets and I'm sure I didn't sleepwalk. I must have hurt myself while twisting and turning on the bed trying to sleep".

Her big brown eyes were now filled with concern.

" Existential crisis" I widened my eyes at her. "Look, I'm fine. I just need my necklace. Have you seen it ?"

Her eyes lit up as a thought struck her. " Did you look in the common bath? , you must have misplaced it when you went for your shower"

"Ah, I knew it " I stood up abruptly, waited for the fluids in my brain to settle, and rushed downstairs towards the common bath of the PG.

As I stepped in, a heavy scent of perfume and shampoo hit me. The housekeeping was cleaning the floor mumbling to herself and two girls were gossiping in the corner of the bath as they dried their hair with a towel.

"Anu, looking for your necklace?" asked Radhi looking away from the middle of the gossip. 

"Ah, yes. Have you seen it ?" I asked as I loitered along towards her, placing my foot carefully on the wet floor.

"Here, I was about to come to your room, found it in bath 3," she said taking it from her shorts pocket.

A surge of comfort rushed through me as I put it back on my neck. The oval-shaped pendant had a  bluestone placed in between tiny white stones which were ingrained into an intricately designed silver skeleton and were suspended by a thin silver chain.

"Is that  Sapphire? " she asked, " where did you get it from ?"

I was unsure of its origin, the necklace has been in my family for generations and I never bothered to ask what was it made up of.

I grinned sheepishly " Well, I don't know. It belongs to my mother"

"Oh" was her reply, any exchange about my mother has always made the situation awkward, and most people would end up looking at me with a depressing smile.

I inhaled deeply, said goodbye, and rushed back upstairs not preferring to take the chitchat any farther.

"I found it " I squealed as I opened the dorm door.

"Good. Okay, I have a lab during the first two hours," informed Ekam as she wrapped her record with a brown sheet. Her curls were neatly tied up, she wore a mustard yellow sweater and her jeans loosely hung around her skinny waist. "I will have my breakfast later"

"Hmmm, that's a great idea. Given the fact, that you fainted yesterday because of dehydration. What a healthy way towards recovery" I taunted.

"I will drink soymilk on my way to the class" she smiled and left, briefly stopping for a second and cueing me to take my medicines. 

I fell back on my neatly made bed and studied my surrounding. The clothes have been put back into the laundry basket. The curtains were dusted and pulled down. In the corner of our dorm, our textbooks were piled up, a BTS poster hung behind the door and a poster of the Indian cricket team hung above my bed. 

I clasped the pendant for a stretch, letting the emotions flow through me as I gazed at the ceiling fan.

1990's. Kids born during this period have lived for two centuries and two millennia. I was lucky to be one among them. But as good things come in small packages, I had a substitute with me. My twin, Ira.

For everyone who thinks twins are cool, it's high time they realized that all twins out there are not "Fred and George" or the "Stoll Brothers".

Soon adding to the sibling list came, my brother  Viti and my younger sister Taara. 

I'm the eldest of the four siblings. Yes, I have a twin. But, being born two minutes ahead has bought me the privilege of being the eldest sister.

Being born in an Indian Society, especially in a South Indian family, I have always learned things the hard way, or at least my dad and mom make sure about that. The other day Ira returned home late after a day out with her friends. I sat down watching her get roasted by my dad and having immense fun. "Only if the eldest listen to us, will the younger ones listen. They are simply her followers " said my dad staring intensely at me. Someone who is extremely particular and nearly a tightwad in the case of using up money and will prefer to stay indoors eternally if given an option.

I'm not innocent either. Some things are better left unsaid, but I always realize it right after I have said them.

Though I yearn to go back home sometime, looking around the messy room of the PG somehow makes me feel I'm home.

An unexpected knock on the door pulled me back from the train of thoughts. " Anu, it's time for breakfast. Hurry up" yelled the warden from the other side of the closed door.

"In a minute," I said getting up and fixing myself in the mirror. The bruise on my lips was starting to swell and there were bruises on my neck and hands as well. 

Did I sleepwalk yesterday? No, no no-no-no. But why do I feel tired? 

"Anu!" screamed the warden again.

I shook my head, grabbed my bag, and rushed down to the dining area.

You are fine, I reassured myself.

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