Brother & Sister: Alone Together

It was a bolt from blue for Ravi. It was only four months earlier that he had moved to Mumbai after getting a job at a large construction company via a campus interview at his engineering college in Coimbatore.

He had been forced to leave his mother and young sister behind at their home in Salem when he got the job. Since it was pretty much the top company in India in the field of infrastructure and construction, he didn't want to give up the opportunity. More than him, it was his mother, Lakshmi Ammal, who pushed him to take up the job, assuring him that his younger sister, Karpagam, would take good care of her when he was away.

Though his stipend at present would not allow him to bring his mother and sister to Mumbai to live with him, given the prospects of the job, it would be able to bring them to live with him in Mumbai soon.

Since money was a problem, Ravi had taken a one-room apartment in a 13-storey slum redevelopment project in Dharavi. Even so, the rent of Rs 14,000 was nearly 50% of the 30,000-33,000 that he got every month as a stipend.

In fact, he was thinking of asking someone at the office to share the house so that he could save more.

It was at this point that he got the terrible news that Lakshmi Ammal had suffered a massive stroke. Since time was of the essence, he borrowed some money from his boss -- who was very impressed with him -- and reached his home by the 6 PM.

Several of his relatives were already there. Ravi's father, who was a postman, too had died of a heart attack two years ago. With Lakshmi Ammal's pension, the family was able to meet its expenses without too much stress, though Ravi's last year at engineering college was slightly harder due to the sudden dip in income.

Ravi's father was the eldest of four siblings, and had three sister. All three aunts, who were married off to nearby farming households, were already there, as were their husbands.

Parvati Ammal's brother too was there.

For Ravi, it was a shock to see his mother, still young at 50 years of age, lying lifeless. He had planned to take Lakshmi Ammal and Karpagam to Bombay in December and show them all the sights of the city.

He saw Karpagam sitting on the floor, exhausted from all the crying, her hair strewn over her face. She burst out again when she saw Ravi, crying 'Anna [brother], mother is gone, anna, mother is gone.."

Ravi was still in a daze, as he had been from the second he heard the news when he picked up the phone from his uncle at 6 AM, still in bed.

The ceremonies lasted for a week. Ravi's aunts and uncles were always around, and took care of most of the arrangements.

Over the week, everyone weighed in on what to do next. Some of Ravi's aunts invited Karpagam to stay with them. But Karpagam said she did not want to stay with anyone.

Instead, she asked if Ravi could stay back.

It was a difficult decision for Ravi. He knew there was no future for him in a farming village with one grocery shop. At the same time, he was not so well settled that he could afford a decent apartment in Mumbai to invite Karpagam.

A one-room apartment next to congested slum was okay for him. But what about a young girl of 19? She could hardly be kept in such a place, he wondered. Of course, the building and its inhabitants were decent enough, at least from what he could tell. More than half of the apartments were given on rent.

There was even an old security guard, Ramavtar Singh.

But a one-room apartment with half a kitchen was hardly what he had in mind when he thought of bringing Karpagam and his mother over to Mumbai.

Ravi tried to make Karpagam understand over the next couple of days. Finally, she said she will come and stay with him, instead of staying with the aunts or uncles.

It was perhaps understandable, given that most of Ravi's paternal relatives had boycotted their family for years. Ravi's father had defied his own father to marry Lakshmi Ammal. Lakshmi Ammal was from an economically backward family, and couldn't offer much by way of dowry.

Ravi's paternal grandfather belonged to a well-off family with considerable land, at least back in the days. But Ravi's father was smitten with Lakshmi Ammal, who was a beauty in her younger days.

Eventually, most of the relatives forgot the quarrel, and started visiting Ravi's family. However, Karpagam still didn't want to stay with any of her relatives.

Finally, ignoring the protestations of his uncles and aunts, Ravi booked a ticket for himself and his younger sister to Bombay.

"I'll move out to the suburbs and rent a bigger flat," Ravi thought, as he helped load Karpagam's bag into an auto rickshaw.

MUMBAI

The train pulled into Kurla station by 9 AM, and the brother and sister took a taxi to the apartment.

Karpagam knew hardly any Hindi, and could speak and understand some English. As soon as she saw the room and the kitchen, she made a list of items that was missing and the duo went out to get them.

On the way, Ravi realized that he should have asked Karpagam to change into a salwar kameez or something so as to stand out less. Karpagam always wore a half saree, what is referred to as a dhavani back home.

Both Lakshmi Ammal and her husband had been somewhat conservative in these matters, which was the norm in their village, and Karpagam had only two pairs of salwar kameezs -- both gifted by her aunts -- in her entire wardrobe, which was otherwise filled with dhavanis and a couple of full sarees.

Karpagam was not unattractive looking. In fact, Ravi had taken after his father -- dark skinned and somewhat graceful with wavy hair. There was a certain refinement in features which, together with his spectacles, marked him out as a geek.

Karpagam, on the other hand, was more like his mother. She had shiny skin that was a mix of yellow and pink, red lips, and wore her straight, shiny black hair in pleats on both sides. One of the first things anyone noticed about her was her skin. It was smooth and blemishless, and shiny.

Her face was sort of cherubic, dominated by two prominent cheeks. Her baby-like facial features were accentuated by how smooth and unblemished her skin was.

In skin tone, she was less Indian and more Japanese or Korean. However, she certainly had bigger bones than an average Japanese or Chinese woman, Ravi thought. There was a definite femininity about her, about the way she walked, about the way she turned, about the way she bent over.

Despite the fact that her face was somewhat cherubic, and she walked with the gait of a woman, she was not overly endowed as far as her chest was concerned. Perhaps a little above average, but one look was enough to make it clear that she was still unmarried.

Altogether, it was difficult to believe that Ravi and Karpagam were related to each other, forget being siblings.

But the contrast was hardly surprising, given that they each resembled one of their two parents so closely.

Karpagam, like Ammal, was of the quiet, but determined type. She preferred pulp fiction to classics. Though Ravi had tried to get her interested in some kind of vocational course, instead of a BA in history, she had refused.

Ravi was surprised how she could be so different from him. Ravi had always been an extremely hard working student, and topped his class in the village, and stood out even in his big-city college.

His skills and dedication, together with his humility and focus, had won over his supervisor, who had already hinted to him that he would get confirmed in his job in another two months, at which point he would also get a small raise.

He had always been a geek, but like most geeks, he didn't want to be one. He envied the 'studs' of his class, who managed to win over the women with ease. Given that he had taken mechanical engineering -- a branch of little interest to girls -- there was almost zero opportunity to meet girls at the college too; at least within his class or department.

There were a couple of girls, a Maharasthrian and a UPite, in the batch of trainees at his present company. He would help them out with work related issues, but it didn't really go beyond that.

In fact, Ravi always felt very self-conscious when speaking to girls. Girls just was not his sphere of expertise, give him an engine or a machine to fix, and he could tell you exactly what was wrong with it in two minutes. But girls, they simply were not his area, and he kept away from them.

That doesn't mean that he was not interested. He yearned to have a stylish girlfriend like Rhea, the Punjabi receptionist at his new office. But he couldn't even manage to look her in the eye as he passed her by every morning.

Anyway, Ravi made sure that Karpagam also bought a couple of salwar suits for daily use -- the cheap variety that came for 350 rupees. In fact, it was Karpagam who insisted on buying the cheaper ones, perhaps sensing the financial stress that Ravi was in.

She had suggested selling a gold bangle or two, but he had refused.

They also purchased one more of the 2.5 feet wide, foldable plywood cot of the type that Ravi slept on, even though Karpagam insisted that she could sleep on the floor and only needed a plastic mat. Ravi purchased a foam bed too. He can give his blanket to Karpagam for use as her bed linen, he calculated.

Finally, the duo reached their one-room home by 6 PM. Karpagam went to take a bath, while Ravi started arranging the stuff they'd bought.

Since the bathroom was within the room, Ravi could hear Karpagam take her bath. He noted that she was also washing her clothes on the bathroom floor, after finishing her shower.

"Why are you washing at this hour? Why can't you do it in the morning?" Ravi asked.

"It's ok. It's just a couple of items," Karpagam said from inside.

"Will you have chapathi for dinner," Ravi asked.

"I'll make it Anna," she said from inside. "Just one minute."

Nevertheless, Ravi took out some flour and poured water into it.

At that moment, the bathroom door -- made of plastic -- opened, and Karpagam stepped out with a bucket in her hand. She had changed into a blue blouse and petticoat, covered with a white half saree.

Her face was still face and hair were still wet.

"Oh, the towel," Ravi said, suddenly realizing that his towel was lying on a clothesline he had strung across the room, over his bed.

"Take this," he said, grabbing and handing it over. "We should have bought one," he said, more like a note to self.

"It's OK," Karpagam said, grabbing the blue towel and putting it onto her shoulder.

"Is there anywhere we can hang our clothes," she asked, pointing to the door.

"Not really. There's just the corridor, and people are always moving about," Ravi said. "Just put it here," he said, pointing to the clothesline that over the bed.

Karpagam looked to be in a dilemma. "Ok. I'll put it later," she said, setting the bucket down.

She took the towel from her shoulder, untied her wet hair, bent forward, throwing it to the front. She used the towel to dry her hair.

As she was rubbing her hair, bending forward, Ravi was still looking at her. His eyes wandered to her tummy, which was now clearly visible as the saree and fallen to the front as she bent over.

Despite being of a curvy, rounded structure, her tummy was remarkably flat, perhaps due to the rural life style which involved a certain degree of physical exercise.

Ravi suddenly realized that he was starting at his sister's tummy, and averted his eyes as soon as he became aware.

Ravi tried to avoid looking at Karpagam as much as possible, except when she was speaking. He made sure his eyes stayed focused on her face.

He unfolded her cot, and set it against the wall on the other side, so that there was a gap of around four feet between the two cots. He set the bed, opened his bag and took out a sheet that he used occasionally as a blanket, and as an alternate bed linen.

Since it was September, it was still warm and there was no need for a blanket, he thought.

After dinner, the brother and sister stayed inside the room and chatted, as there was no TV, nor was it safe to go out for a stroll.

By about 9, both were tired, and Ravi said: "Let's get some sleep. I have to leave at 8 in the morning tomorrow."

"OK," said Karpagam. "I'll just wash the dishes and lie down."

Karpagam was done in two minutes and turned off the light. But the room still had a decent amount of light from a nearby building, especially given that the window was covered only with a screen to keep the mosquitoes out.

"Don't you have a nightie or or anything?" Ravi asked, when he noticed that she was lay down in her half saree.

"No. Back home, it's just me and Amma, so...," she hesitated, wondering what to say next. "There was no need, you know," she said.

"Ok, we'll buy it tomorrow. You should have reminded me today when we went in for the salwar kameez," he said.

"Yeah, even I didn't think of it," she said.

She turned to the other side, and soon, both were asleep.

As was his habit, Ravi woke up at the crack of dawn, at 6 AM. Light was already streaming in, and Ravi realized, with some embarrassment, that he had a boner, as usual.

He was relieved that Karpagam was still asleep. The saree fold had fallen off her body and she was sleeping on back. Ravi again reprimanded himself for looking at her body.

In fact, Karpagam and Ravi had not had much interaction in the last five years -- ever since he left his house to study engineering at a college that was about 5 hours by bus. Karpagam had been just 14 then.

Initially, Ravi would visit every weekend. Slowly, as the months went by and he got more and more engrossed in studies, it reduced to once in two weeks and eventually once in three or four weeks.

They, somehow, never shared the 'deep conversations' kind of relationship that some brothers and sisters seem to have, probably because they never really had much in common in terms of areas of interest.

In a way, Ravi was not sure about what Karpagam liked, what her ambitions and plans were and so on. She was, he realized somewhat alarmingly, more or less a stranger to him.

Normally, he would go out for a walk in the morning; come back, take a shower and leave for office, grabbing something to eat on the way.

He decided to make a tea. As he took the saucepan, a lid that was kept next to it clanged, waking Karpagam.

She quickly grabbed the pallu of her saree and put in on top of her blouse and stood up.

"Sorry anna, I think I must have been tired from the journey," she said. "I'll make it. Give me a minute to brush [my teeth]," she said.

"It's alright. This is something of a routine for me," Ravi replied.

By 8 O'clock, Ravi was was out of the building, on his way to work.

He put his SIM card into his mother's old Nokia phone and gave his phone to Karpagam. "You can watch some Youtube videos or something till we get a TV," he said, promising to recharge mom's phone number with a data plan. He also had an old laptop, one that his father bought for him when was in his second year at college, but it was not in a position to be handed over to his sister as he was not sure where all he had saved his porn collection on the device.

He returned earlier than usual today, by 6 PM and the two of them went out again to buy a towel, nightie and so on. He made sure that she wore the salwar kameez.

Still, as they were walking out on the corridor, he realized that she would still make heads turn, the way her butts announced their presence from underneath the salwar and kameez.

Moreover, he seemed to have purchased the kameez a size too small, accentuating her figure even more.

At the nightie store, Ravi stood outside, and told Karpagam to go in and get whatever she wanted. He didn't want her to feel abashed.

Karpagam seemed to have managed with whatever English and Hindi she had at her command, because after about 20 minutes, she had what she wanted in a plastic kit with 'Jai Ambe' emblazoned on it. Ravi paid 490 rupees.

They went in to a Chinese shop, and Ravi ordered a chicken fried rice, divided in two.

He tried to understand what his sister's plans were. She said she wanted to finish BA history by correspondence, and then perhaps do MA.

As she bent forward to eat her fried rice, he again found that his eyes had moved on their own to her neckline. Since he'd purchased a low cost set of salwar and leggins, it didn't come with a shawl/dupatta. The salwar had a slit on its neckline.

He realized that he could see more of her breasts in this outfit than in the dhavani.

"Hopefully, with her looks, she'll be able to attract a good husband," Ravi consoled himself, adding a mental note to register herself on one of the matrimonial sites.

"I've told a broker to look for a bigger flat. We may need to move to the outskirts a bit," he said.

"Won't that be too far for you," Karpagam asked, a shadow of concern passing over her face.

"No. It's alright. It'll just add a couple of hours to travel," he said.

"In that case, let's not do that," Karpagam said, her face moving deeper into worry territory. "Anyway, the flat is big enough!"

"It's not about size. It's just one room. You don't have a room of your own," Ravi said.

"Why do I need a room of my own? Anyway, we'll think about a bigger flat when we afford it," she said, with an air of finality.

"OK. Let's see," Ravi said. Looks like he will have to start wearing underwear even at night, he told himself.

By 9 O'Clock, Karpagam was yawning.

"Let's hit the sack," he said, turning himself in. He should buy a an extra pair of blankets when he gets his salary next week, he told himself.

Karpagam went inside the bathroom with a package. He heard her tear off a polythene cover.

When he couldn't see her after a couple of minutes, he said: "What happened? Are you not going to sleep?"

"Yes. I'm coming out. You go to sleep," she said, a tinge of worry in her voice.

"OK," Ravi said, turning to the other side.

After a few seconds, Ravi heard the bathroom door creak, and turned to look at Karpagam. To his surprise, she was wearing the same salwar kameez that she had on when she went in.

"What happened to the night dress," he asked, puzzled.

"It's too tight," Karpagam said, avoiding his gaze, while trying to keep her voice normal.

"Really? Didn't you check the size," Ravi asked.

"Yes, I did. The lady there said it's freesize and is suitable for everyone," Karpagam said, as she made her way to the bed with the night dress in her hands.

"Here, let me see," Ravi sat up, and extended his hand.

Karpagam hesitatingly handed over the night dress to him.

"Ha! This is knit wear! No wonder she said it will fit everyone! Did you see anything made of cotton?" he asked.

"Yes," Karpagam said. "But I liked the pattern on this one."

"So, what's the problem. It should be fine for you," Ravi said, examining the neck-tag, which said 'M' - presumably for medium.

"It's too small," Karpagam said, now sitting on her cot.

"Try it. Let me see," Ravi said.

"No. I already did."

"Karu, that's not how this kind of banian material stuff work. They stretch according to your size, and are also more comfortable than regular cotton," Ravi tried to explain.

"But it's too..tight," Karpagam said.

"That's probably how it's supposed to be. It's knitwear after all. Anyway, it's for wearing at night. You are not going out in it," Ravi pointed out. "Anyway, it's up to you."

Karpagam took the garment back from her brother, and stared at it for a minute.

"Ok. I'll try it. You tell me if it looks ok or indecent," she said, looking Ravi in the face.

"Ok."

She went in and after a minute, came out.

Ravi was practically stunned.

The problem was not with the garment - the 'problem' was with his sister - she had a figure that could make a saint hard.