I Love You, Not

Sitting on the bed with a couple of pillows to support her back, Ambika sifted through the pages of Reader's Digest to find an interesting story to read for the night. As soon as she began to read, she was startled by her daughter Meera's shriek, "Maaaaaaa".

"Anirudh hid the TV remote again. I can't watch 'Friends' ". Dismayed, Ambika thought, 'when are these kids going to stop terrifying me?'.

Slamming the book on the bed, Ambika charged to the drawing room. "Anirudh, where is the TV remote? Where is your dad?"

Her 14 year old son Anirudh was sitting on the couch, watching Italy play France live in the quarterfinals of 1998 FIFA World Cup. Her 17 year old daughter Meera was standing helplessly next to him, scanning the room 360ᐤ.

"He is chatting with neighbor aunty near the gate", replied Anirudh, ignoring the TV remote question.

"What?" asked Ambika in a high pitched tone.

Seeing her raised eyebrows, a sniggerring Anirudh replied 'Oh, sorry Ma. No, he is talking with neighbor uncle. Stock market discussion I guess".

Meera yelled, "Anirudh, give me the remote. 'Friends' would have started now. You have been watching this boring game since 8 O' Clock. No team scored a goal."

Watching Meera's face turning red, Ambika said, "Anirudh, it is already 9.30 pm. Let your sister watch some TV. Both of you need to go to bed at 10 sharp."

"Hello brilliant minds. This is a quarterfinal game. There will be extra time and possibly a penalty shootout. I am going to watch the whole game. And, it is Friday night." Anirudh did not budge.

Seeing her husband Madhavan entering the room, Ambika called him. "Madhav, they are fighting again over the remote. I told you not to get us cable. This has now become another reason for them to fight. You deal with these two."

Feeling exhausted Ambika went back to the bedroom, hoping to read a few pages of Reader's Digest before sleeping. She was worried that of late the siblings were fighting frequently for everything and showed an inclination to share nothing.

Madhav coaxed Meera to watch the re-telecast of the Friends episode later on Sunday.

Without anyone noticing, Anirudh took back the remote he had hid in Meera's school bag and continued to watch the game. France beat Italy 4-3 on penalties. He felt sad for Roberto Baggio, his favorite player. He still had Roberto Carlos to look forward to.

Meera had a fun weekend mocking and jeering her brother, thinking that Italy was his favorite team. Unknown to Meera, he silently responded by tearing a few pages from one of her school notebooks while leaving the pages intact.

Returning from computer class on Monday evening, Anirudh saw his mom consoling Meera who was sobbing and talking. "I prepared very well for the Chemistry practicals test today...I correctly identified the salt given to me...I don't know how my lab record note pages were torn."

"The Chemistry teacher is very strict. He said 'I am an irresponsible student' and deducted 10 marks from my test score...I feel so bad ma".

"It's okay dear. You are in your final year of school. There will be many more tests this year before you sit for the board exams. Don't worry. You will score full marks next time". Ambika reassured her daughter.

Madhavan and Ambika were a bit surprised that their kids ate a quiet dinner that evening! There were no contests such as who ate more or who finished their meal first.

Usually, Anirudh won and teased his sister calling her names such as 'slow coach', 'tardy turtle'. Meera would retort by calling him 'Bakasuran'. Ambika would often have to intervene lest it became an altercation.