Su called some days back to tell me that it was raining! ''Ok. Ok. Got to go!'' she said and hung up after whispering that precious piece of information. Su is my cousin. With just about one year age difference, we grew up like friends. We are both this typical dreamers and connect very well. I, for one, believe that I have no existence outside my imagination. I literally live in my own world of fantasy. Su is crazier.
Su lived in this very beautiful fairy tale-like house full of people. My aunt and uncle welcomed anyone who they knew, who wanted to study, into their home. So about 8-9 of our cousins of different age group lived there. I would visit them regularly during vacations.
The house had bamboo furniture and a showcase that held so many little things from an amazing miniature model of Great Wall Of China made of bronze that my aunt had got from China to huge, shapeless, unrecognisable things made of plaster of Paris by Su. It also had a terracotta Ganesha, a note that Su wrote to her mother when she first discovered pen in some yet-to-be-recognised language, a picture of Su as a kid (not that she was any better looking then!).
The house had spiral staircase that led to the charming library with a lot of old-looking books stacked neatly on the shelves. Su had a little room for herself which she had covered with Shah-Rukh Khan's posters and I think there was Su's study timetable written on a lousy paper that had somehow managed to worm it's way in to the room. (I have a strong suspicion that my aunt had something to do with it)
But our favourite place was the terrace. We literally lived there. Even during mid-nights we would sneak to the terrace and lie down looking at the stars. Mild fragrance of jasmine wafting from the garden below, a small battery operated Walkman, and two mindless teenagers with our impossible dreams... We would spend hours on end up there. I think my love for open terrace began from there. Whenever I had to choose hostels I always went for the ones with terrace.
Su has a whole chapter dedicated to her in my memory book from teenage. She no longer lives in that house now. My aunt and uncle sold it and moved to a rented house closer to their workplace. But whenever we happen to pass that street we look at the house, "our house'' longingly.
Su completed M.Sc in Bio chem with flying colours and now works for Bio Con. She hates her monotonous job and dreams about travelling around the world. Su did not attend my wedding. She had no offs. I reminded her over and over again about her promise to put 'mehendi' for my wedding so long ago and tried to make her feel guilty (It had very little effect on her though. She is immune to such things.) ''OK. Here's an idea!'' she said, after I nagged her for the umpteenth time, ''You don't attend my wedding either!'' ''Forget it. You are hoping for too much,'' I replied.
We got so busy with our lives that we have very little time for each other now. But I love her for she has enough craziness left in her to call up to say it's raining!
