For the brother that I could never have...

Dear Brother,

We've been brothers by destiny. We've been brothers by hardships. We've been brothers when we have had to bow. We've been brothers when we celebrated our liberation. Sadly, we've never been able to be brothers by choice.



You were the brother that could not be, when we both started to help out the child who fell on the road, but stopped, you upon seeing my turban, I, when I noticed your skull cap. You were the brother I missed, when we were both cheering our teams at the world cup, in the crowd. You saw the color of my skin, my beard, and moved off to a 'safer' distance in the crowd. I can understand you didn't want to take the risk of being blown up. You were the brother that was rightfully mine, when I went about handing out food to the flood victims on the banks of the Hooghly; I skipped you when I saw the locket around your neck.

But, it was always you who came to my help, when I needed it the most. You were the one, who picked me up from the street and gave me a job at your house, you never once bothered when I brought a picture of a monkey god into your house. You were the one, who followed me in Gujarat, running behind me with a bundle in your hands, sorry for making you run that much, how could I have known, that it was my Koran I'd left on the bus that you were returning?

Our fates, my brother, have been entwined. It was sealed the day we were born to the same womb of our mother earth. It was both of us who were saddened by the 9/11. It was both of us who rejoiced, when man landed on the moon. It was both of us, that cried over our washed away homes in the tsunamis, yet it was together that we brought our life back on its feet.

We have had our differences, our fights. But then, isn't it just a sibling rivalry? I admit we've been cruel on each other, I have hurt you, I'm sorry. But believe me brother, I don't care at all, if you kneel down to some unknown, five times a day, or if you pray to some stone idol or an animal. I don't care if you drink alcohol as a part of your prayers to the almighty at the communion. You see, whatever the way, but we are addressing the same power that's beyond our mortal differences. We are all praying for the same thing, peace and happiness.

My dear, take everything from me, all of it is yours, you are my blood after all. But leave me with one thing, the one thing that can absolve me of all the hate we have fostered over the centuries, all my guilt over treating you like an outsider. Take everything that's mine and yours, but leave me with my right, my right to love you my brother.

Yours truly
The brother that can still be....