20 May 2007

I feel a bit low this evening. My younger brother left today. He lives in the US. He was here for around 3 weeks. I haven't spend so much time with him for a long while.
We are the closest in age in our family and so, when we were kids, were very close--fighting all the time, but sharing a great deal too. But as we grew up and started families and began living on different continents, we sort of drifted apart. We were each of us busy with our own lives. When he visited India, he would spend with my parents where they lived earlier--not in this town and I just went home for a short visit when he--or other family--were there. Besides they never had long vacations and would be at home maybe only for about 10days.
But this time things were somehow different. He was the only one who hadn't been recently to visit with my mother--after my father died. (He had had a major surgery and was not in a position to travel such a long distance.) He had planned this trip with much anticipation, way back last December and had told my mother he would be with her for my father's memorial service and for her 90th birthday, which would have been May 17th. He had told her that we would celebrate it with a party. But it was all not to be (my mum died in Feb). He was really sad that he hadn't got to see her recently.
Anyway, since we were both free (school vacations for me) we decided to go visit the last few of my mother's family and so took the trip to Bangalore. Just the 2 of us went and so we got to spend a lot of time with each other, although we met up with various family members there. We talked a lot and so I got to hear his dreams for his future, for himself and his wife. These are things it's difficult to share just through letter/e-mails when you hardly get to see each other. This time together brought us closer together after such a long while.
I love you brother. Here's wishing you safe journey and all the very best.

4 comments:

  1. Nice post! since the longest time i have ever spent away from either of my brothers is probably like 3 months and since we are so clued into each other's lives, i find it even difficult to imagine...i desperately hope that when ro goes away to the US, that doesn't happen....it would just be asbsolutely awful if it did!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't imagine having a close family member living in a different continent. Though I do have a nephew who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. :(

    I only have relatives living in a different state. Mostly they are all a short driving distance away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. True with all the closeness we share as children we drift apart when tied down with our own responsibilities.Good you spent time with your brother.Your mom's brother lives in Bangalore if I am right.He must've been delighted to see you.Nice to hear about your brother's visit made me very nostalgic.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Finally finding some time to read again now that the wedding is over. It must have been wonderful seeing your brother again after so long. I come from a close family and one of my brothers spends the winter in Georgia and I miss him till he is safely back in New York again. He will be 82 in November so I worry if I will ever see him again every winter when he leaves. So, I understand how lonesome you must feel without seeing your brother. Hope it won`t be as long before the next visit.

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Do give your feed back.