The good and the bad - Rit

I've got two things to tell you guys - one good and the other not so good. I'll go with the good one first - I received my very own first letter - addressed to me. The letter came from Poorva didi with my rakhi, only she addressed it to 'Hrig' Singh and the address wasn't too accurate but the important thing is that the letter found me! It made me feel all grown up. I've asked mama to write back to Poorva didi and thank her for me.
Now for the not so good one... you know how aunties are ..... when they meet us for the first time... they think 1) they must comment on the fact that we are twins and 2) the comment must have something to do with the fact that we don't look alike.
Well mama is used to the regular ones like 'Wow how lucky' and 'a boy and a girl in one shot, great'. But this aunty was a bit too much. She came up with 'Naisha's so thin, Hrit behen ka sara khana kha jaata hai, he he he!!!' Not funny at all, I thought. Mama wasn't amused either and she consoled me saying that she had to put up with the same comment all her life because Rinku masi was so thin. And what's even funnier nani says nanu had to bear with it too as she was stick thin. Weird how people don't tire of coming up with the same thaka hua lines through generations and still expect people to laugh at them.

PS
Nani also promptly told mama 'Hrit ko nazar lag jayegi'. So much for progress...humph!

Bhaiyya mere - Naisha

Rakshabandhan is our special festival because that was our very first celebration. Last year we weren't even three months old but we had a lot of fun. Bua nani had come over and we had three generations of bhais and behens . I got to tie rakhis to four brothers. This year, however, there were just Rit bhai, mama and I, so it was a bit of a drag. I did send rakhis to Yash, Adi, Varun, Tarun, Uday and even to Yadu. Gosh, don't I have quite a bunch of bros? Yash bhai said my rakhi was the best! But sending rakhis by post is not half as much fun.
Anyway I was excited about getting all dressed up. Bua nani had got this orange and green lehenga for me long back and that was what I was planning to wear. It was all bright and shiny with lots of golden stuff on it. Rit bhai had a cool kurta brought all the way from Lucknow. Unfortunately mama gave away my clothes for altering and they never came back in time so I had to settle for a white kurta pajama! But then clothes don't make festivals, do they? Besides, the two of us look good in almost anything and we had our neighbours oohing and aahing all over us. Mama made this rather amateurish rangoli, which we had a great time scrubbing off! I got it all over my pajama while Rit bhai tried to eat a bit of it. Mama tried to put some mehendi on my hand too while I was asleep. Frankly, I have no patience with all this stuff and in the scuffle I got mehendi all over me, on the sheet, on my clothes and even on mama's clothes. I ended up with a rather smudged ugly orange patch on my palm.
Ishi didi had sent rakhis for both of us so I got one too. I put a tika on Rit bhai's forehead and tied his rakhi with mama's help. Then I gave him some laddoo which he promptly spat out because he has developed a dislike for sweets these days.

Mama's day out

Mama went to the gym today. I would have liked to say 'mama started going to the gym today' but she's so doubtful whether she will be able to continue that she wants to take it a day at a time. She told the entire society that she'd be away for an hour and that they should keep an eye on us, as if Sophia didi wasn't enough. And that too when she went during our morning nap. It became a tad embarrassing because she was supposed to start a week back but she couldn't because both of us fell ill and everyone from our doctor to our neighbours was asking 'Have you started going to the gym?' I think it was all the pressure that finally pushed her to going today.
Anyway, she came back all sweaty but very happy. As far as I am concerned her absence was quite uneventful but Rit bhai had a crying fit as soon as mama left and didn't sleep at all. Sophia didi says he dreamt that mama would be gone and that's what made him wake up. I say that's all rubbish. Sophia didi gets these weird ideas. The other day we overheard her asking Hemalata, the cook, how she can ward off the evil eye from us. She was complaining that when we go down EVERYONE looks only at us. Some one just has to say 'how cute' to me or 'how chubby' to Rit bhai to get her all worked up. Well some of it might be her imagination but we do seem to be the favourite playthings for a lot of older kids around. Sharvari and Shalmali love to take us in their godi, Ankita likes to swirl Rit bhai and make him laugh, Trija holds our hand and makes us walk, Yash and Jai just love to pet both of us, Tamanna gets a special football keychain that Rit bhai likes to play with and Khushi hangs around us because she's too shy to say anything... and that's just some of our older pals...but Sophia didi doesn't understand that they are our friends, how can they cast an evil eye on us?????
Anyway Hemlata did give her a recipe involving a lemon and she made mama buy it. That irritated mama no end but she did get the lemons.