Holding On & Letting Go |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

Chapter 1: Snippets

Aliya's Di.

"Can't you behave like your sister?"

"Look at your sister beta, why don't you learn from her?"

"Why do you make such silly mistakes in maths? Look at you sister she is so careful"

"See, how you are arguing with me, your sister never replied back at your age!"

These were a few very common one-liners at my household since childhood. If you are the younger one among your siblings, you must have gotten used to hearing these throughout your childhood too, right? No, no. I am not a jealous sister whining, I am just trying to prove a point here. You tell me, what would your opinion be of your sister, if throughout your life, everyone around you has taught you to be like her? - She is perfect - Isn't that what you would grow up to believe? It's true in my case too. Idolising Nandini di wasn't a choice for me, it came to me naturally. I have idolized her ever since I remember - sometimes I joke that I have been looking up to her right from inside mumma's tummy. Di laughs at this. In fact, to this date I hero worship my di - she really is the best. But the one thing I regret making along with it is, my fatal childish assumption that followed from all the idolizing. My assumption that di can never make a mistake.

I wish I thought otherwise, all those years back - then maybe today, she would have been as happy as Dhruv and I are with our twenty-five years of marriage and two college going kids. I wish I had told her just once, on any of the occasions, "No di, you're wrong, don't do this".

***

Di always loved her independence, the idea of staying in a different city, without adult supervision, arranging for her own food, taking care of her own needs, managing on her own - more or less, what brought cold feet to most eighteen year olds, it brought a shine of excitement in my di's face. She was always dad's little ninja that way. Hence when her school got over and she was about to start college, she decided to move out of Mumbai. After doing a lot of research on what course to go ahead for, and after shortlisting lots of college options, my di finally got an offer from a college of very well repute in Pune. Both mom and dad were happy, Pune was the best option - it fulfilled di's desire of staying independently in a different city, and also it was only a few hours from home, which was Mumbai; so in case of any trouble my parents could easily reach out to her.

It all began, when di, landed with an internship with the country's biggest media house - Malhotra Media House, headquartered in Delhi. She had just completed the second year of her management course, it was the term break, and all students were expected to complete a three hundred hours internship. I still remember that ecstatic phone call she made to me, to tell me about the offer - how proud my parents were - I don't think I ever made them that proud. But then who can compete with her?

Di had then moved to Delhi for a month. She was staying with our chacha's family there. The day she started working at MMH, one more man had joined the company.

***

Mukti's Bro

He is just four years older than me, but in some ways I feel he is the parent I don't remember having met. Ever since our parents left us, we were raised by daadi and our uncle looked after dad's business. He never needed to take care of the funding for raising me, but beyond that he took care of everything. Daadi used to take care of him and he took care of me - he fed me, put me to sleep, helped me with my studies, advised me whenever I needed it, taught me to be tough and helped me become the strong woman I am today. To the world he was a fame crazy, power hungry rockstar, but for me, he was just my Bro; my idol, my guardian.

Bro was, and still is daadi's biggest pride. He was just twenty - two years old when he won an all-India music competition and had won an album contract with the most prestigious music company of that time. He was a celebrity overnight! True he always wanted to be one, and we all saw it coming - but suddenly when your own Bro is a celebrity the world is dying to get a glimpse of, it is a different feeling. Ever since he was twenty - two, Bro has always rocked the music charts - I think today after all these years, I can proudly say - he is one of those rare celebrities, who have never known failure throughout his career. Now he not only sings, but also promotes new talents, he is a music director and also an entrepreneur. Bro has the best of everything in life - I sometimes wish, he had a heart too.