ISKI USKI
Congratulations ! It’s twins ! Legend has it, my mother cried her eyes out when she received the news ! The first set of twins and girls had been born into a simple, large, Indian family. Since birth, we have always had the spotlight on us, surrounded by paparazzi, quite the celebrities, if you ask me. Pampered to no end by everyone ! Having said that, the one question that we have always been asked, whether by friends, family or even strangers is, “What does it feel like, to be twins ?”
Now, I am no twin expert or anything, but I assure you that by the end of this article, you’ll be left wanting a twin for yourself. Also, if you find yourself asking it, I am the younger one, but only by a minute. So fetching the water bottle whenever needed, is my duty.
( TIP- You might want to question Bunny from YJHD on how to make twins )
Limited Edition ?
First off, let’s face it, twins aren’t one person with the same face. They are two different people, each with a different set of personality traits.If she is the limited edition from H&M, then I am the limited edition from Zara. Wondering how ? Let me break it down.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Kudos to some really intelligent aunts, who chose to name one of us Yashaswini and the other, Varalika. If you are wondering that this makes identification easier, you are mistaken. Often, we have embarrassed people because they called out the wrong name. The logic is simple, these two letters are placed right next to one another in the Alphabet. So we can never be apart even on attendance sheets ! Although, cheating was a rather rare side effect of this skillful decision.
ACTION-REACTION
Reading an article about twins and yet, they don’t talk or walk in unison ? As infants, children, teens and young adults, our parents were always dealing in sugar and salt. Same in color and yet, switch the two and you could find yourself brewing disaster. They have had their fair share of bittersweet moments. Quite literally. As evidence suggests, our Baby Book clearly mentions that I crawled, walked, had my first of everything from tooth to toe after my twin. A minute can certainly make a huge difference ! I was always more temperful and childish as compared to Yashaswini. Making me smile was Mission Impossible. Infact, if I may say so, The Ring of Fire in the Pacific is second, only to all of my tantrums ! Contrastingly, she has always been as even tempered and polite as I am not. I do recall this one incident where we were just a few months old. She agreed to go and play with our neighbours and I wouldn’t stop crying. Turns out, I didn’t want to have fun with the neighbours, but I didn’t want her to go either. You see, ‘Live and Let Live’ wasn’t my foreign policy ! And today, if waging wars is my job, signing the peace treaties’ is hers.
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Now take a moment and think, what is the one question that an Indian mother has to always ask ? In my experience, it is, “What do you want to eat for lunch/dinner?” Imagine the plight of a mother who has to deal with answers that are as different as the opinions of Ross and Phoebe about gravity and evolution. If Yashaswini picked Aloo Paratha, I would say Cheese Paratha. If she said Italian, I would say Mexican. The situation was similar even when it came to our choices in subjects, men or something as simple as our preferred beverage ! ( Ps- Chai rules all )
Mirror Mirror, in front of me ?
For most of us, the mirror is on the wall, but for me, it is a living, breathing, and ever so annoying individual. Having dismissed your illusionistic perspective of twins being similar, inside and out, I do have a few instances to share where we appeared to be a two in one package. I think I was lucky enough to have been born with a best friend in tow.
The late night Maggi parties, gossip sessions, being judgemental, shopping, cracking jokes and laughing until it hurts, fighting over the remote, the sides of the bed, cutting things in exact halves, or dividing the snacks and candies, you name it, we do it. The list goes on…fighting over who has the better choice, which song to play or which restaurant to go to!
We didn’t compete over anything, our scores always matched in the end, if one was good at art, the other was equally good at art, if one scored less marks in math, the other would make up for it by scoring less marks in some other subject.
As they say, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’. I do recall that we made the same mistake in one of our mathematics papers. That led to us being questioned about cheating. Turns out, we were in different class sections, so that wasn’t possible. Telepathic? Maybe! We do, deliberately wear the same outfits, at times. To fuel our sadistic tendencies of embarrassing people by causing confusion. Sorry not sorry. :)
Identity Crisis !
Our parents often get confused between who’s who. In one such instance, a picture of me sleeping with my books was thought to be of Yashaswini. Saved me the wrath of being called lazy!
However, the most intriguing aspect of being a twin is to get confused yourself! I often felt as if I was her shadow, not realising myself, that we are two different individuals. Our choices make us unique. They make us who we are. And yet, as twins, we share a common identity. The easiest way to remember who I am, would still be to associate me with Yashaswini. As appalling as that may have been in the past, I could not have asked for a better introduction to who I am. To see the peaking interest of people as soon as I use the word ‘twin’, is the single most satisfactory aspect of being one.
If someone asked me to give them one advice as a twin, I’d say, no need for Personal Assistants when you have a twin! By the way, she is proofreading this, so don’t blame me for any errors! :P
