Bigg brother!

The advantage of travelling esp with my dad , was that everything would be well taken care of. I mean really well taken care of. Planned by the minute!

So we(4 of us in the family) are in this swanky hotel/service apartment in Hawaii.something called, aston waikiki beach tower, bang opposite the shores of pacific , and i clearly remember not being allowed to go to the Beach without the escort of my elder brother. I was all of 12. The age gap between my brother and me is 5years. He is the elder one and that by nature of seniority made him the bossy and highly un cooperative one!.

Hey ! before anyone goes, So what? if he is elder? that doesnt make him the bossy or un cooperative one!! Let me make it clear. Being the younger one and also being physically frail (like being a girl wasnt enough!) I got kicked around quite a lot. So! all those who still stick to the above statement are probably covering up their acts in the past/present of sibling torture and in most probability are the elder sibling themselves!!!

My parents wouldnt dare let me venture out by myself. not even to the sandy shores across the road! and to convince my brother into accompanying me would mean feeding a bribe , which would most probably be in form of endless favours for endless periods of time, or parting with my not so hard earned pocket money, given by dad for kiddy pride! or any other mode of bullying he would wish to carry out. Now, its not like he didnt fancy the Water, He was simply being the "BIGG BROTHER!" :P

After much cajoling he agreed with the condition that i hire the surf board for him. I agreed!

So we reach the beach and mind you im carrying the towels and the knick knacks while he is carrying himself. im politely asked to set up the towels and get the surfers board while he readies himself to hit the water! Any younger sibling would know better than refuse a polite "request" ITS NOT POLITE. its jus them trying to be nice !!:P initially :):)

So i do the needful, and drag the board along the sand , as its too big to be carried by someone who is hardly 139cm!! on the way i make a complete fool of myself as everyone stares at me with those WTF eyes! I had a strong sense of pride even at 12, so i jus stared at the water and dragged the damn thing. After handing it over to my bro, i start to gear up for the water. i had a new snorkel to try after all!! He bounces of to the water, and i follow. The second he realises that im in the water too! Im again! "politely" asked to get back ashore and look after the belongings!..... !!

I grumble and get my tiny soaked stickfigure out of the water and park myself on the towel. It gets better. my Brother realises that the board is too big for him too. its a full size surfers board. He signals me to the water and asks me to carry the damn thing back to the rental service and exchange it for a baby board.dunno what they call it. I swear i wanted to murder him, but then there have been many more of such occasions and he is still slive :P

I try to hurry to the rental and by now im too irritated with the red swimsuit being sandy and wet and clinging to me so i didnt bother to take a cover. i figured if grown women with bits hanging out can wear a two piece i could most definetly pull off a single!

the rental for the big board was $ 10USD and the small one was $5USD. So i figured i had saved some moolah in his discomfort. i wasnt complaining. with the extra cash in hand i headed across the road to a ocean gear store. Now when i look back i must have been quite a sight.

I chose a inflatable bed for lounging in the water. a bright orange single mattress sort of thing for exactly $5USD . Being the US of A , i couldnt even get free air to inflate the matress. so i decided to carry the board and the packed bed all the way to the hotels 30th something floor, to get some cash from my parents. 70cents to be exact.

I tried to walk all non nonchalant through the lobby in my red suit . i rang the doorbell and dad answers answered the door and HE WAS NOT AMUSED!! at all!! i got yelled at for walking around looking like i was hit by a luggage train and some of its luggage got stuck to me.and what would happen to his reputation yada yada yada!!Apparently my hair was in a mess. hey i was 12!!.(( i sport the same frizzy hairdo now btw and dad loves it.. timely co incidence :P)) i had wet dripping-sand-filled frizzy locks. i had permed my hair back then for the first time . but there were no curls to boast of! just sticky frizz! it was after 2 weeks of the said perm. To answer as to why was I a frizzball, i clearly remember sneaking into my delhi house smelling like generator fumes after my ammonia perm, and my brother flinched his nose so hard I thought he would choke! it was but obvious that he would start nudging me towards a shower. He was predictable! I was obviously insulted and ignored the "do not wash hair for 48 hours after perm " warning. and washed my hair immediately. twice.

getting back to the Yelling bit, I got a bathrobe forced around me and then was I given the cash . I had the bed inflated and headed back to the water. and by now my brother was fuming at my delay, so now his conditions increased. He wanted an ice cream! i convinced him into having the ice cream later . so he took the board and ran off to the water while I dragged my water bed into the water. Its hard to get it stable in the ocean water. but i wasnt giving up. esp after all the drama. After about 5 mins i was jerked from my bed and tossed into the water. It was simple. either i make do with the board or i get the ice cream!!!

So i made do with the board while brother superior basked in the sunlight!!

happy ending!