Monday 23 August 2010

The ties that bind ;) .....







Being an only child, however good or blessed it is, it is also very difficult. Being Mr.Suryakumar, the prodigy's (I've heard from my uncles and elder cousins that my dad was a prodigy) only child is even more difficult, not because my dad made it difficult for me, but the others around us. Every other person, who knows expects a lot of achievement from me just because I am Suryan's (that's how my dad is addressed to by others) daughter. He's a genius and I'm not. He's drowned in Physics and Maths and I'm not! And so, I always wished I had an older brother who could take all the brunt of it. Well...that was just a wish because God just wasn't kind enough to have given me an older brother but I didn't let that get to me. As I grew up, along the way I was blessed with brothers, some were related and some not the least related, some older and some younger, some handsome and some not so handsome, but nevertheless brothers who actually pampered me.

~ He who understands you is greater kin to you than your own brother. For even your own kindred neither understand you nor know your true worth. ~
"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero-- Marc Brown"


I thought I owed this blog to my adopted brothers. I have a great many cousins and it goes without saying that they were my good great brothers. I'm not going to brag about them in this blog for everyone knows they are great (Vidyasager Karunakaran, Dinesh Karunakaran, Prabath Karunakaran, Vinod Karunakaran, Aroon Dharmapalan Sajeev, Anil Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Pramil Premkumar,Vishnu, Prageesh, Praveeth, Darshan, Vishaan, Sumi and Vimi....etc.) and I love every single one of them. It is easy to love me as a sister if you are related to me or even out of obligation, you simply have to put up with me. But it doesn't go the same way if we are simply not related and that is greater .... that is the ties that bind us forever.

Down the road, I have made many such brothers, who have pampered and spoilt me. I am going to mention them in the order I met them. So, going back to school, where I made my first one, even though we never met in school. My parents when they lived in Nigeria, they had a lot of good friends who also moved to India like them eventually. One such friend of my mum's was Swarup Aunty. She visited us when I was in school (SBSM) and thats how I met her son Siddharth Cherian. He was born a year or so before me and my mom adored him and so did I. He was my wish for an older brother come true but it didn't last very long since we moved houses and they moved places and we lost touch. I wish I could find him again somehow and I still have memories of him stored away.

After that, it was a distant cousin's/ family friend's wedding reception (Surendran's reception) and I accompanied one of my cousin Dinesh and his wife. I met my other cousins Dhanya and Dina there and they introduced me to this guy- Nikhil. We hit it off immediately. He became my first bro and to this date he still is ;). This was in my tenth standard. After I moved to GRT, I met Ashwin (a.k.a.Venkatraman), always the witty one. He's now in the US but somehow still manages to keep in touch now and then. He was my brother because he helped me a lot, with his great advices and he was a great fan of my graffiti (you know brothers are for encouraging us ??? Yup, he did that really well...encouraging me and constantly supporting me at school and with everything that I did in my life, he never gave up on me. Then came along SRM. Life at SRM was made fun not only because of my friends but because of my so called bros. Well, first came Bachchu (Bharatram) since he was the first I met, my classmate and also a naughty one when he was with SMS Karthik which was all the time. He was so damn tall. Will get to other bits about him when I get to how I met Eshu!

Then I met Ashok, from the VISCOM dept. He was tall, dark, not so handsome but damn cute. He was the mischievous one. The one thing I'd never forget about him is his grin/ smile whatever you call it. He made French classes fun for me and everyone. One helluva photographer and he has such a big heart that he just lets people take advantage of him. He keeps in touch with me even now when he needs any sisterly advice or gets himself into any shit. We talk about everything and I'm happy I know he's one brother I'd never lose, no matter what.

Then came Girish Gopalan. I met him through a close friend of mine. He was a cute plump guy ;) and I know he's going to give me a piece of his mind when he reads this. I was kinda of a family to him and his parents love me and so do I love them. His mom is one woman and I adore her. We call him GG. He's successful in life and is working in Mumbai and am proud of him. He and I used to talk all the time on the phone, gossip about everyone and am happy that we still do. All my birthdays since I joined SRM have been blessed with all the cuddly toys he'd gifted me and the last one was a big fat black and white Panda, which I still adore. He spoilt and pampered me ;) . Even though he was my senior, he was never like one. He was the first older brother I made.

One of my best best friends Shweta decides to fall in love and booooom... the guy happens to be none other than Eshwar (a.k.a Dracula). Since he loved her very much he decided I guess the rest of Shwe's girl friends were naturally like his sisters. So there was, our (Mine and Anna's) oldest bro ;). My only regret is that down the memory lane, we somehow managed to disconnect ourselves and part of it to blame is me moving away from Chennai I guess. Now married to my best friend, he hardly has to time to keep in touch and I don't blame him, my best friend is sometimes hard work, just like me.

Third year at SRM, I met my bestest friend Sindy's friends, Paul and Vivin. Paul, ever loving, kind, crazy about his car, sound advice any time I need, always has to patience to listen to my problems, he was more of a friend but a younger bro. Never once failed to call and wish me on my birthday. And Vivin- There are some bonds that never need to be explained and this is one. He became the third oldest, smartest, handsome bro, and being a mallu, it was another advantage cos he was often mistaken for family. He, I think should have been my older brother in real life because like my father, he had big brains, and guess what, IIT background too to top it all and hence was and still is the perfect one to take the brunt of being my dad's child ;). He's a generous person, loving, caring and spoilt me a lot. I'm proud of him after what he's achieved in life. He was one solid support who saw through me getting to Glasgow and I am indebted to him forever. He visited me in Glasgow, and guess what all my friends here thought he was actually my brother and I never bothered to correct them because he was my bro, big bro! I would never forget the night when we shared a chicken wrap near Waves, Annanagar, during my last trip to India. He took me shopping, bought me clothes, pampered me... listened to all my woes, took me home safely as what all brothers do ;) and I miss him a lot.

My first year in my Master's in SRM introduced me to my senior, Mr.Pradeep Iyer. Well, he was younger than me but yeah way taller, skinny and you'd think he's all brains and that's exactly the first impression I got of him. Thanks to another person Gayatry Mohan, we became good friends and moved on to bro and sis relationship cos it just seemed apt and right. He was ridiculously insane, witty and humorous. He always had something to say. Never made fun of me. Encouraged me all the time and yes I was bound to be the victim of jealousy from other endearing souls just because he favoured me when it came to giving his books, notes and advice and guidance. I survived the M.Sc. there, thanks to him.

It was also in SRM that I met the little rowdy as I call Hari Krishnan (kutty hari), my littlest bro. Any trouble, and the rowdy he is would immediately spring into action.... he always starts...(yakkoww..eppadika irukke???)... it was always funny. He's skinny tiny but ferocious or atleast that's how he depicts himself! He's an awesome photographer, talented, creative and brainy...and almost always comes up with an awesome tagline or quote at the right time just when I need something to boost up my self morale. My final years at SRM was joyful thanks to him and his chocolates he always got me. Thanks for being there kutty.
My life in Glasgow wasn't an easy one to begin with, had its ups and downs. God just knows when exactly to drop a brother on me, to watch out for me and there he was, the one who was always around for me here, Amit. He is my best friend here, and my bro.... Don't know how I would have been without him. Never takes NO for an answer, forces food down my throat, stuffs me with his cooking, and advice too. Being the season for Rakshabandhan, I thought I'd honour all my brothers for being the best you have been to me and for all your support down the line. Life sure was made easier for me and thanks to you all.

To this day, I don't regret having a brother of my own when I have plenty around me, to look out for me, spoil me, take care of me, make fun of me, irritate and most of all annoy me. They have seen me at my worst and at my best. People come and go, but the ones who are meant to stay will stay no matter what the ups or downs are and I am proud to say that I have seen them come and stay but very few who left.

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." — Marilyn Monroe!!!!
More later!!!


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice of u to write about all the brothers who made life just that bit easier :) - more often than not we take them for granted but am sure they would all feel great after being described as better than super heros!!!!

Arun John Paul said...

you've been such a great sister n friend too!!! you've made great brothers n friends out of em as well. so proud of you. really warm to put words to your thoughts. you're simply the best!!! love ya, take care n God bless!!!

Unknown said...

I also forgot to mention that 99% of these adopted brothers (Except Paulie of course) of mine are LAZY almost all the time. Some of them have read the blog, but they just can't be bothered to comment on it, some haven't bothered to read yet and some are hibernating...just cant get hold of them! ;)

Karunakaran Prabath said...

I am so proud of you my little sister. How wonderfully you have worded the ties of brotherhood. Three years passed by, I saw this and new about this blog only now. Im so sorry Priya. You are a hero and I'm so proud of your hard work, courage and the attitude. Wish you the best, and may you be blessed with love, happiness and good health. God bless you my dear. Take care