Marking My Brother's 22nd Birthday

Relationships have funny ways of starting. Suddenly, you find someone who becomes someone special within the space of a week, like the person I am going to talk about today. He is my brother, but we are not related by blood. That makes him all the more special to me.

Let me  tell you our story.

It was in 2007 that we first met I think. The date is not important but what followed that day is. I had been given a copy to return to a kid in class five. I was then in class seven myself. I went inside, called out the name Sagnik Mukherjee and a kid of average height, wearing a red t-shirt stood up. For a few seconds, our eyes met. I think that was all it took for the bond to form.

During recess, I went to find Sagnik, not knowing where he was. It was a short search because he found me first. We knew who we were, we had just not talked . And so it began. We introduced ourselves and swapped phone numbers and in the evening after school, I called him and we started talking about books and music. He had not heard or read much at that point in time and he liked the suggestions I gave him. The plot thickened.

As I stated before, our relationship took exactly a week to mature. By the end of that week, he introduced me to a friend as his brother and I was so touched by that gesture that I remember it even today, although so many years have passed.

He's a Manchester United fan, I am an Arsenal enthusiast and we have our ups and downs regarding that, but apart from that one little issue, we are inseparable. We have kept up with the times, each of us listening to the new music that comes out and discussing it at length over WhatsApp. We don't message regularly but even by not doing that we know we are there for each other and since I am essentially a lone wolf, this particular relationship means the world to me.

I know we will grow old together, talking about girls and bikes and To Kill a Mockingbird, while our kids proceed to watch the latest Transformers movie. How many people in your life can you say that about?

Here's looking at you kid!

The Bilge Master