Sisters...

Aarushi - our family's latest addition:-) The second apple of my eye! And little sister tomy first apple of my eye:-) Both, daughters of my elder sister.

As the excitement settles, and the feeling sinks in that the new one is born, I sit and reflect on the past week. Images and pieces of conversation rush through my head - 'The doctor said wait till 4th March', 'We're going to the hospital now', 'God help me with thisterror while her mom is in the hospital' pleads my dad...'Its a little sister for Anoushka'!Thats the call I recieved at 10:00 AM IST on 3rd March! That it was a little girl...a sister!

Just like me and my sister :-)I was so excited and so happy! I couldn't wait for the first pics...and I cried again on hearingthe little one's cry over the phone...and I feel closer than ever to my own sister...As I see the first pics of my little angels, it dawns on me, that they'll have a bond as beautiful as the one I share with my sister...

Its funny you know...there was a time, and I'm sure most of you will agree, where I prizedfriends over everyone else, definitely over family! I moved out of home to study, when I was 17. My sister had a constant complain that I would rarely call / mail her, and there I was, happy in my ownworld. A year after I left, she got married. And that's when it slowly started to dawn on me...she wasmy sister, someone I spent so many years with and unwittingly shared so much with. She was someone I wasvery protective of, and someone who I suddenly realized how much I cared about!

Ya, we yelled at each other, both of us standing as we do at opposite ends of the spectrum! She always whacked my stuff, I always put her in trouble, we never wanted to do the same things at the same time!But it didnt matter, because she would understand what I was thinking before I thought it, she was my sister!

And then she was expecting her first child and I was going through the works of friend to fiance to wedding plans. I don't think I've ever looked back after that. Finally, we reached a stage where we could talk to each other of our dreams,our fears, our troubles, our plans for the future, our day to day lives. I don't think we ever did that so much before...and since then its been that way. Distance, time zones...they don't matter anymore. Each converstation starts off when the previous one ended.And before I realize, she's reached a plane of her own...where I don't think any friend can. I mean, my friends are my friends,they're the ones who know the nitty gritty of my life and will continue to do so...but in all this, there's a bond with my sister that I don't think I'll ever share with anyone else ever! And I finally understand what my mother meant when she usedto say 'You have only 1 sister, stop fighting and learn to share'!

And I'm just so happy that the tiny tots in our lives will get to do that again!