She is...

my wake up call on holidays in delhi...

firm tugs of the bed sheet...repeated calling in her sweet sing song voice...and occasional dripping drops of water delivered amidst incessant giggles...

my nemesis when it comes to TV watching...much better at handling that god-damned contraption that is the dish tv remote...and of course much faster...and consequently, never allowing even the faintest trace of sporting activity on the screen...

a constant critic of my daily jaunts with the school gang..."you're not going out with them again??" being her constant refrain...

a walking-talking excel sheet of my bloopers...." u didnt switch off your laptop..."...."the fans still on there..."

"take a bath!! It's 1... "

a live feed of info to mom...." manoj's on the phone; for the last 1 hour! ....he's still sleeping.... he's saying something behind your back...."

the staccato of noise in the background when am trying to take my afternoon nap...

constant sharer of her 'away from home' issues....disturbing 'colleagues'...amazing friends...threatening old ladies all of whose names begin with 'sister'....

frequent framer of exasperating serial questions like "what do you want to be when you grow up?? you still dont know?? how come?? " .... "is that girl you're talking to on the phone the girl you're gonna marry?? when is the marriage?? can you buy me a new gown for it?? "

ender of all of her occasional skirmishes with the family with the mother of all "am such a cute lil thing ...y r u doin this to me" expressions...

most importantly though....

still remember her entry into my life 6 years ago...wrapped up in a sheet..bawling her lungs out...

remember the many nights during class 12 examinations when I've had night swotting sessions with her comfortably nestled on my shoulder...gently going to sleep with intricacies of physics in the background...

her particular tendency to choose to relieve herself precisely whenever i eagerly lifted her up after a tiring day at school...

her gradual growing up that has somehow corresponded to me maturing ( or trying to act like i am at least...)

the shriek of 'manoj annnaaaaaa" and the huge hug everytime i came/come home for vacations...

the feeling of "heck...life can wait" whenever she falls asleep on my shoulders while watching "bob the builder" or "pumba..." ( or whatever that hideous purple thing on pogo is)

panacea of all kinds of depression with her frequent hugs and giggles...

to...

the sweetest lil thing i know...

my lil sister...whos turned all of a wonderful 7 today...

happy birthday ammu :)

PS: Anna's not that great a writer; still...

hope you'll love it whenever you're old enough to get down to reading this!