Big Brother

When I got to college, Rahul became the big brother I never had (being an only child as I am). He made fun of me without bathroom breaks, nagged me about my study habits, insisted I eat my veggies, and dragged me to the first holiday dance when his suite-mate (the first brown boy I ever liked) scorned me for my enemy.

Ok, he sounds more like a mother from that description, but I saved face at the end, rght?

Rahul was an attractive, international student (from the motherland) aroud whom Hopkins women gathered. He was oblivious to this. They, in turn, were oblivious to the reality and extent to which he was studious--SO anal about his studies. Of course, at Hopkins that very well could have been a turn-on. The equivalet of a beer-chugging contest at a state school is a man's ability to isolate himself and study on D-level at the library at Hopkins.

During my time in APhi, I was approached more than once by sisters for a true Indian style introduction to Rah-Rah. This baffled me at the time, given the utterly anal-retentive qualities I attributed to him.

Well, Rahul and I haven't been close or spoken much since college. Partly because his engineering job moved him to California, partly because he's dating Song--a lovely girl with an unusually large face who insists on keeping "the peace" at the price of squelching my internal contrarian--not to mention that just as siblings we are adept at pushing one another's buttons.

He's my first friend I lost to a future spouse. It's so true that if you don't get along with a friend's spouse, the friendship inevitably suffers. sigh.

Rah sent me a friendster message last night after Shiv's mass e-mail about Neil landed in our inboxes. It's salient because his was the address on the e-mail list that jumped out at me and created a sense of lost longing. There's something comforting about a friedship where you know without a doubt that the person's intentions are pure even if their words drive you mildy mad most of the time.

It's nice to know we're still on the same page sometimes, bro!