Lost or Found!?

I knew a person who played a significant role in my formative years. She was my cousin who used to live along with us when we had a joint family. I felt like a bread crumb by looking at her stature, which used to be gigantic for me when I was in the second standard. When I told her about this feeling of mine, she used to laugh like a retard. It was wierd but still I loved it for some unknown reason.

She used to drop me and my sister to school and also turn up to recieve us, that was the time when we got an oppurtunity to make her perturbed. Both of us hid behind the slides and waited for her to find us. She had some sixth sense by which she always found us in the most undiscoverable spaces we hid in.

One day when she and I were going to school and my sister was not along with us, she discovered that I had a fear of stray dogs. When they barked at me, I held her hand tightly in fear. She told me that barking of the dogs is a way of saying hello, and who so ever does not reply is considered rude. She asked me to bark back. And like an epitome of an idiot, I did that. Somehow I was able to overcome my fearand both of us (my cousin and I) went on the streets barking at every dog we came across. Next day my sister and I barked at a dog and started giggling, she enquired that what was it regarding, we replied that it was an inside joke. We continued doing that until one day on which my grandmother discovered us on our way. barking at the top of our voices at every random dog. On my denial, my cousin told me that we should always respect what our elders say to us and accept it as an obligation as it will benefit us in the future. She had a tone which made me accept anything which my elders failed to.

Years passed, we grew up and grew closer. But one obnoxious day I came to know that she had met with a brutal accident. People who tried to save her were redundant. That news kept on stiffling me for years and still does. That event left an indelible impression on my mind. Her presence was the reason for my childhood vitality. That day I lost a vital part of my life.

She was a person who made inhibitions stand alone. She had a confident approach for everything. She was a bright student and was equally good in sports. She had an eye of a leopard, which once sets its target and runs till it has chased it. These were the reasons I tried to emulate her but always failed.

At one point of time I had a plethora of her company. Antithetically, now I dont get to experience even a fraction of it. But this is what life is all about. Experiences and mistakes are your best teachers. If one takes life with a positive attitude and tries to learn from every obnoxious incedent, he can surely turn into a calm and humane human being. Her presence is what I lost, her sole is what I found.