I was pleasantly surprised to see my elder sister come in. It had never happened before, I mean, she had never visited us without prior information so that we could make all the necessary arrangements. We had to arrange all those things which she was habitual to. However, her arrival always brought joy to the house. With my tea cup still in my hand, I stood up.

“Sister! How come, without any information?” my voice had surprise and joy.

Charu touched her feet and waited for her blessings. She was happy to see the elder sister. I called Nanhi and Nitu, “Come here children, your toys have arrived!”

“Stop Nandu, don’t tell them anything about toys. This time I forgot to bring toys for them and I have not brought sweets for you,” the elder sister said in a very serious tone of voice.

“Sister, now I believe that you have become an old woman. This is the first time you have forgotten to bring sweets for me in all these years,” I laughed and began to wait for her response.

Contrary to my expectation of getting an equally jocular answer, there were tears in her eyes. She began with much effort, as if her voice was suffocated, “Nandu, is it a crime to be old?”

I felt as if I had been hit hard on my head with something heavy. I had never heard such words from my sister’s mouth. I began to stare at her. Charu moved towards the elder sister. Charu did not speak much but she worked very hard.

She said, “Sister, I will go out and help them in unloading your luggage from the car.”

“This time I have come by a taxi. The driver has already unloaded the luggage in the yard outside,” said the sister and silenced.

Before she could speak further, I began, “Sister, you seem to be talking in riddles today? What is the matter?”

She neither answered nor looked in my direction but I guessed that she was trying to hide her eyes.

“Charu, bring me a cup of tea.”

Charu felt relieved and she began to walk towards the kitchen. I knew that my elder sister loved me more than Charu. The sister looked towards me. I noticed that there was something missing in her eyes, yes, it was the twinkle which was so typical of her. There were dark circles under her eyes.

She looked in my eyes and said, “Nandu, you have been to America, how did you like America?”

“Oh, now I see, so you are going to America. Then what is there to worry about? Rajiv is there. We will see you off from here.”

“It seems now I will have to go there,” she took a deep breath.

I was getting annoyed because she was a kind of beating about the bush and not disclosing what she had in her mind.

“Has Rajiv sent you the ticket?”

“No, why should he send me a ticket? He knows that I won’t be happy away from my husband. Why would he call me there?” said the sister.

“Then, what is the other reason?”

“Don’t worry about ticket and just tell me about America.”

Her voice and eagerness aroused millions of suspicions in my mind. I felt there was something wrong and she was helpless.

When Rajiv was to go to America, she was asking the same questions. I did not understand why she was behaving like that.

Our elder sister began to live with us. She got my brother-in-law’s letters almost every day. We used to think that she would tell us to get a ticket booked for her any day. With every letter, she began to appear gloomier. Before this visit, she had never stayed with us for so many days. I wanted to know everything but she was not telling anything.

Finally, that day arrived. When I returned from the office, I found her sitting in the veranda. In her lap there was that familiar blue letter. I paused in my advancement towards her. Her face was expressionless as if a sudden storm had left her stunned. I rallied courage and said, “What happened, sister?”

“Come sit here. I wished that you should come home before the arrival of Charu. I don’t want that my grief should touch you but now I can’t hold anything back,” she spoke as if every word had escaped from the prison of her heart.

“Come on, sister, and tell me everything. I am getting worried.”

“How should I begin? You know that I was very happy there. Your brother-in-law, Rajesh, and my daughter Ruchika and son Rajiv, and every other thing in that house were just fantastic. Ruchika got married and Rajiv insisted on going to America. Rajesh had started a new business for Rajiv but when he went to America the responsibility of that new business fell on the shoulders of your brother-in-law. He has a magical touch because whatever he touches turns into gold. The business began to flourish. He began to be busier and travelling became inevitable. I was lost in my household and he was busy in his business assignments.

That day when he came home, nothing seemed to be unusual. He requested me to bring a cup of tea.

Having taken a sip of tea he said to me, “Chanda, I think you should also go to America and stay there for one year.”

“Then who will look after my house?” I laughed and said.

“What is there in this house? Children are away and only servants and goods are there in the house,” he said.

“I wanted to tell him that he was the most important person because of whom that house was home but I resisted myself,” she stopped.

I realized that my sister was really disturbed but I did not know what it was. She paused for a while and then resumed, “I told Rajiv that I did not want anything from that house because our children are married and they can take everything if they want?”

Rajesh’s face began to shine and he said, “Chanda you have made me triumphant.”

I was constantly looking at my sister.

She said, “I wanted to know why he was trying to send me to America. We had spent twenty five years together and those were really happy years. Then he told me to come here to meet you. He said that he would write to me every day.”
“
The sister tried to stop her tears but she failed, “He has not concealed and written everything to me today. He has written that he is in love with a woman and he can’t leave her. He wants to spend rest of his life with that woman. I have written to him that he can keep that woman in our house and I won’t say a single word. I have requested him not to alienate me but, I think, that woman is not ready. She says that she won’t be happy to see my sad face every day in that house. Now I have to spend one year away from my husband so that the condition of the divorce could be met. He wants to give me one million in cash and a house. He is trying to lure me with all that, Nandu. He wants me to relieve him.”

I was shocked and I rushed to her to console her.

She could not control her emotions and she began to weep like a child. However I tried to assist her in that crisis with my brotherly embrace, she was not helped. I realized that the emotions she was feeling were really intolerable. I made an effort and began,” Sister, please control yourself. We will find a way out. Please don’t weep.”

The following twenty minutes went without any exchange of words or emotions.

I began to think about my childhood. How happy we used to be when our elder sister used to come to meet us! She used to be loaded with gifts and toys. Her visits used to bring life to our house. She was as beautiful as a fresh flower and her happy voice rang in all the rooms in our house. She would wear the most expensive of the dresses and drive a beautiful pink Sedan that had been gifted to her by Rajesh, my brother-in-law.

Suddenly, we realized that Charu was coming. She hurriedly wiped her tears and composed herself. At first she wanted to hide it from Charu but she suddenly changed her mind and told Charu everything, without missing anything. Charu was thunderstruck and her mouth remained wide open for a long while.

After that day, we began to live like actors in the house and we performed our duties as if we had been given the scripts which were actually not written for us. At least once in a day, Charu would say, “Men are never faithful.”

One morning, our sister called us and said, “I will not go to America and I don’t want to live here.”

“Why? I am your brother and I can take care of you?”

“I don’t want one million and that house from him.”

“Sister, you are disturbed. You can’t behave like that.”

She began to act strangely after that. We did not know how to help her. Three months passed in this way.

One morning, a telegram arrived. The news was shocking. My brother-in-law, Rajesh, and the woman he had been living with had died in a car accident. I did not hide anything and informed my sister.

My brother-in-law had left all his property in her name but she did not care about it. She began to cry loudly and she said, “I don’t want his money and property. I want my twenty five years back. Are those years of love worth only this much?”

“Sister, control yourself. You have your son and your daughter. You should go to America,” I said.

“Nandu, they are there because of him. He is no more and I don’t think there is anything left for me in this world. I never gave him any moment in those twenty five years which could anger him. Why did he do this to me? No, Nandu, I don’t want anything.”

She fell unconscious on to the ground. She went into coma and now it has been six years. They are talking about euthanasia but how I can do this to her. She is my elder sister, my loving elder sister. How can I allow them to kill my sister? I think I am ashamed of being a man!