Perks of Being Indian [On Hold]

Lesson 6 - Make sure you say hello

Two days had already passed by, meaning that it was Thursday, and I was still absolutely clueless on what to do with my imaginary boyfriend situation. I had decided not to tell anybody because it was truly embarrassing and I thought I would be able to manage alone. Key word: thought.I was obviously wrong about that. I also hadn't progressed much with the Teagan and Cyan situation apart from the fact that I had placed a 'secret admirers' note in his locker after Teagans approval. He seemed pretty curious about it.

But the problem at hand was mine and the fact that we were going to my cousins house was a major relief. For no apparent reason, my Aunty had decided to call us over for dinner today and her son, my cousin, is probably the only person I actually like from my family. Rishi and I get along so well unlike my other bothers and sisters. He's always making me laugh and always listens to my problem as well as solving them. But the thing which makes him different from all of my friends is the he actually understands what I go through. Now if I were to pretend that me and Rishi weren't related in any way, I would say that he's definitely on the good-looking side and was a topper in almost every subject so I would probably want him to be my 'guy'.

Mum thought it would be a great idea to drive to their house even though they only live fifteen minutes away from us and it was a warm and sunny day. Walking seemed a perfectly capable thing to me but my opinions never count.

As my dad parked the car, my mum told me to go and ring the doorbell since she was holding a tray of home-made samosas. Apparently, Indians think it's unexceptional to go empty-handed to anybody's house and therefore my mum had made this dish. I rang the doorbell and my Aunty, Bina, opened the door with a smile plastered on her face.

"Ohh! Welcome! Come on in, don't stand outside! You've grown so tall, you've even passed you mum, Shanaya!" She exclaims as she hugged my so tightly that I choked (or that might be her perfume). I couldn't seem to understand why she thought I had grown so much when we had met just three weeks ago. I was pretty sure I hadn't.

Before I could even say a simple 'hello', my mum and my aunty had already started on their mothers meeting. And before I could go and find Rishi, I had to make sure that I said hello to my uncle who was siting in the living room, watching cricket.

"Hello uncle Raj. How are you?" I asked.

"Oh! Shanaya! Welcome, I'm fine thanks, and you?" He asked, smiling a broad smile which made me excessively uncomfortable.

"I'm fine, I'll just go and say hi to Rishi." I said, trying to make an excuse.

"Have you said hello to your aunty?" He asked, eyes flickering towards the TV every now and then.

I sighed, "Yes, she was the one who opened the door." And before he could reply, I quickly zoomed out of the room. Was he just stupid or was he trying to annoy me? Of course I said hello to my aunty!

I ran up the stairs and knocked on the first rooms door. Just for safety.

"Meh..." Came a muffled voice from inside.

Access granted!

"Hello! How's ma bro?" I asked once inside the room. The room that I envied so much.

Even though Rishi got the odd scolding or two, he always had his privacy and was pretty much allowed to do anything. Take now for example, he was playing Minecraft on his TV (could we just take a minute or two to note the fact that he had a TV in his room?) and probably does everyday but his mum doesn't go barging into his room and yelling at him.

"Yo! How's my fave sis?" He said, fist-bumping me. He was wearing a maroon beanie the said 'swag' on it, a black 'Assasins Creed' T-shirt.

He shuffled up on his beanbags to make room for me and I plonked myself down on it. Whenever I was with Rishi, I could just be me. I noticed an addition to his trophies in his cabinet and my mind started to ponder. As far I know Rishi, he never revises, forget that, I've never seen him pick up a book in my whole life, but he's still capable of achieving so much in life. It was then I realized what I was missing: encouragement. My parents never encourage me to do the things I want, instead, they just nag me to become a doctor or a lawyer.