oh brother where art thou

u can live a lifetime without knowing the people u love the most, or rather who love u the most. I've spent a quarter of mine living with a bunch of people called " family" without even taking the effort to try and "know" any of them.

unemotional- is one way to try and put things into perspective about my character. Always cold and aloof. My family always tried to stay close to me and they were the only reason I am still part of it. Left to myself I would have drifted apart into the "cold nothingness" long ago.

how can one ever remove the influence of ones parents. They are the creators- the reason why u are!!

then come the siblings who can make ur childhood enjoyable or ruin it to shambles. I had a brother as a partner in crime during childhood. And by god, did we commit crimes. Looking back I can recall vividly some of the madcap adventures we went thru. "good times..Bad times". Led zep springs to mind! But somehow over the following years we drifted..Slowly but surely. Neither of us knew how or how far . But the gap between us was evident. After a point in time I realized I almost didn't know my own brother at all. We both lived our own separate distinct lives.

I had almost given up on trying to reach out to my brother. When all of a sudden an angel came into my life. She breathed life back into this dead relationship. On her own she brought all of us closer and closer until we were no longer "out of focus" for each other. This lovely lady...Now my wife ..Was the reason I found new hope. During our marriage I saw one of the greatest reunion of all times. In that one event my whole family came together like never.

as with most interclass marriages in India, our was riddled with its own fair share of bust ups. fathers not approving of the brides caste. uncles not liking the attitude of the groom..And so on. But during this time I got some much needed support from this family of mine. My brother of all people stood by me like concrete. With me till the end. I had always been proud of my brother , in one way or the other, but in recent times my own fickle mindedness had gotten the better of me and forced me to think otherwise. This one event had sealed my respect for him and I think it will take at least another seven lifetimes for even a crack to appear in this bond.

I learnt a lot from this little incident in this sad, non specific life of mine. Times change, people change and just a little complacency on ur part can change everything between u and a loved one. A relationship of any kind is something that needs to be worked on and doesn't come easily. Why then, u might ask, should u invest so much into a relationship if its going to be so hard to maintain? The answer, I believe, lies in not what u put in to a relationship, but what u get out of it- pure and sheer happiness!!

recently, I have been told, another family problem has cropped up. This same brother of mine is seeing a girl who my mother doesn't approve of very much. Once again the foundation of our family might be shaken, feuds might crop up tempers migh flare. However this time around I shall endeavor to be a part of this family, stand by them to work on this problem and help hold strong the foundation of our relationship.