Sibling Tales

~~~RAKHI SPECIAL~~~

"Do you remember where that old phone of yours is?" Mimi's dad asked her.

"I guess it is in the study table drawer in Ravi's room, I will have to check." 
She faintly remembered putting that small black old phone away on her last birthday as she received a brand new phone with a 5-inch screen replete with Android OS and a cute Hello Kitty cover.

Ravi was four years younger to her and was still in school. He was supposed to get a cellphone after his tenth board exams. Consequently, he had to make do with leftover phones of mom, dad and this time his elder sister, as his phone's display had stopped displaying anything.

He managed to rummage through the wires and other electronic junk and emerged with her old black phone. As their mother placed breakfast in front of them, she realized she was running late for the 10 a.m. class and hurried out.

Her day at college was uneventful save something nagging at the back of her mind. She couldn't seem to place her finger on what that something was. She decided to ignore the feeling. On getting home, while she was having dinner, hungrily stowing spoonfuls of rice into her mouth, her phone beeped. It was him, reminding her about the report the next day. And then like lightning, it struck her.

All of a sudden, she couldn't wait for Ravi to sleep. She desperately wanted him away for some while. She hoped he would go to the washroom or just anywhere so she could have a look at her old phone. 
But he deliberately seemed to linger, longer than usual (obviously to her hyperactive imagination) around his new phone. But Providence was not so cruel. Dad called him for some work, which was likely to take some time. She stole over to his room, grabbed his phone and thumbed through the messages part. There was nothing except operator notifications and a few other random messages. Her little brother's messages had not populated the inbox yet. However, the inbox was not her concern. She scrolled down to 'Sent Items' and 'Drafts' to 'My Folders', her heart almost jumping out of her chest. 
And there it was ! That old folder of hers, that she had titled 'NEW FOLDER' to disguise it. That was where the clandestine conversations were stored. She clicked on it. Her heart sank to the level of the earth's molten core as she saw those lovey-dovey exchanges between her boyfriend and herself. 
Yuck ! To know that her brother must have read them! Those messages to write which she had had to combine all her poor creative faculties together and often take the assistance of mushy Internet lingo...those messages which seemed sweet only when you sent them but ridiculous and cloying sugary on reading them later...to think that those highly confidential and personal messages of hers had been perused by her brother! 
She wanted the earth to swallow her and never burp her out again. She shuddered to think that he might have come across some saucy messages, that had been sent and received more recently than mushy ones because sensuality usually leads the way to sexuality in a relationship. 

Mustering whatever courage and dignity she had left and dispelling disturbing thoughts, she got back to the 'My Folders' menu and while travelling down found another folder titled 'new folder'- all in small letters, which was weird because she had never seen such a folder before and didn't remember creating any such with the same name. On entering it, she found a dozen or so texts to/from her brother's girlfriend. The messages were personal enough to indicate that they were lovers but quite lame compared to her 'mature' messages. She started wondering that perhaps he had deliberately created this folder, may be as a sarcastic message saying- 'Sis, you would always be one step ahead ! Precisely why my new folder is all small lettery compared to your NEW FOLDER in blaring capitals' and a winkie emoticon ahead. It was as if he was taking baby steps in the dating world following in her footsteps. Mimi wished she could turn back time. Oh that cunning rogue!