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"What are you doing?"
Sonu opened her eyes, breathing heavily. Her brother was standing in front, looking at her in confusion.
Taking a few quick breaths, Sonu said, "Hanging."
"I can see that," he said, rolling his eyes. "But why? You hate playing on the monkey bars!"
But Sonu was in no state to answer. Her breath was coming in shorter gasps, and her face was turning red. And her hands! They were hurting so much! Squeezing her eyes shut, she willed herself to hold on for a little longer. But right then, her hands started slipping, and she had to let go.
Landing on the ground with a thud, she took a second to make sure nothing was broken. Satisfied, she sat down on the sand, catching her breath.
After a few moments, when her breathing finally seemed to come back to normal, she looked up at her brother. He was still standing there, hands on his hips, watching her antics.
"So?" he asked again. "Why were you hanging from the monkey bars?"
Sonu looked away, remaining silent for a few seconds. Finally, she mumbled something softly.
"What?" Bhai asked, looking confused.
Taking a deep breath, Sonu spoke again, this time loudly and clearly. "If I hang from there I'll become taller."
There was silence for a bit, and then her brother burst out laughing. "What?!" he chortled. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
Pouting her lips in annoyance, Sonu huffed her shoulders and said, "Shilpa aunty said I would!"
At this, Bhai's laughter died down a bit, though he still looked quite amused. He walked over slowly and sat down next to Sonu.
For as long as she could remember (which wasn't many years ago), she had been the short one. Her parents were tall. Her brother was tall. All her cousins were tall. Even in school, she was the shortest in her class. She was always made to stand in front of the line because of that! In fact, there were many students in the younger classes who were much taller than her.
And every time she complained to her parents, their only response was that 'one day' she would shoot up in height. That one day still hadn't come. Until it came, Sonu was still very much short, as people around her felt the need to point out all the time.
One such person was Shilpa aunty, their neighbour. She would often mention how short Sonu was, and this did nothing to help Sonu's mood. But this time, she said something that caught Sonu's attention. As a passing comment, she mentioned that Sonu should probably hang from a bar, as that was the only other way she would grow taller. In hindsight, she was probably joking, but for Sonu, the idea took root.
At first, Sonu rejected the idea. She hated monkey bars. She could barely hang on to the bars for a few seconds before falling down. She was really jealous of Bhai, who would easily cross over from one end to the other, while Sonu wouldn't even be able to hold on to one bar.
But the more she thought about it, the idea started sounding better and better. She was so tired of being the short one. She was tired of being told by everyone around her how short she was, and then having them look at her with pity. She really, really wanted to grow taller now. So if this idea actually worked, it might be worth a try.
So here she was, hanging from the monkey bars in the playground, huffing and puffing, hoping that those few seconds would at least let her grow a few centimetres.
After a few moments of silence, Bhai looked sideways at her and asked, "Why are you so obsessed with growing taller?"
"Don't you remember the picture?!" Sonu asked, confused that he even asked this question.
Bhai stared at her for sometime, as though trying to remember which picture she was talking about. And then, suddenly, he burst out laughing again.
"It's not funny!" Sonu shouted.
Last month, the whole extended family had gotten together. Before they left, everyone had posed for a full family photograph, with Sonu standing in front. But when the photo was finally developed and brought home, Sonu was nowhere to be seen in it! The photographer had somehow managed to click the picture a little higher than needed; and as a result, had ended up cutting Sonu out of the pic. Everyone else was in it, except her!
After a while, Bhai finally stopped laughing. Looking at his little sister, and the lack of laughter on her face, he asked again, "Seriously. Why does it bother you so much?"
Happy that he had finally stopped laughing, Sonu thought about his question. "Everyone is always saying that I'm really short," she said finally, not sure of what else to say.
"Well, you are," said Bhai. Looking at the angry flash in her eyes, he added hurriedly, "Arrey you are short! But why is that a problem?"
Sonu was about to open her mouth to reply, but she stopped short at the question. No one had ever asked her that before.
"I don't know. All the grown-ups keep saying I should be taller. Maybe taller people look nicer?" she said, trying to come up with an explanation that made sense.
Bhai shook his head slightly, rolling his eyes, and muttered something under his breath. "Listen, I'll tell you a secret," he said softly, leaning in.
Sonu shifted, moving closer, frustration slowly getting replaced by curiosity.
"Grown-ups don't know what they're talking about. Listen to what they say, and then ignore it. Otherwise they'll drive you crazy."
Sonu frowned. This made no sense. Everyone always said to listen to the grown-ups. They were supposed to be the smart ones!
"I'm serious!" Bhai added. "Look, they're always after me not to play out in the sun because then I'll become dark."
"What's wrong with being dark?" Sonu asked, confused.
"Exactly! But who's going to explain that to them?" Bhai said, again shaking his head.
"So what do you do?" Sonu asked.
"What I said. Listen to them, and then ignore them."
Sonu looked at him, still feeling a little uncertain.
"Listen," Bhai said, exhaling strongly. "You want to hang in the monkey bars? Then do it. I'll help you."
Sonu looked at him, thinking, and then finally whispered, "I kind of hated it."
"That's what I thought," said Bhai, standing up and dusting his pants. Sonu kicked his leg softly, annoyed at the sand flying all over her face.
"Come on," Bhai said, ruffling her hair.
"Where are we going?" Sonu asked, getting up to follow him. “To do something that’s actually fun,” he said over his shoulder.
The two walked up to the merry-go-round. Seeing it, a smile began to spread on Sonu’s face. "Do you think this might also make me taller?" she asked.
"Definitely not," Bhai said, as he started to push the bars to make them spin. He raised his eyebrows, as though challenging his little sister.
Sonu looked at the merry-go-round, now spinning really fast, and then at Bhai standing on the opposite end. Finally, making up her mind, she nodded and flashed a big smile at Bhai. "Let's go!"
With that, both of them caught on to a spinning bar on each end, like they had done many times before, and swung alongside, screaming with excitement.
