We stopped talking to each other
I am a girl of 16, studying in Std XI. I made one of my classmates my ‘brother’, and shared everything with him. But our classmates started teasing both of us as they didn’t know that we shared a brother-sister relationship. Because of this, we stopped talking to each other and, for the last one and a half years we have not even seen each other. I would like to talk to him and I feel that he too wants to talk to me. What should we do?
Monisha
Dear Monisha,
You are missing your friend and ‘brother’ a lot and want to talk to him. Unfortunately, the fact that you both stopped talking to each other makes you both look guilty even if you are not.
People talk if they sense something in the air. Perhaps the closeness shown by both of you made them think you both were a romantic pair? Reflect and you will get the answer. If people did talk but you felt sure that he was your brother and nothing else, then there was no need to listen to them even if they teased you. In India, we have so many ways to show a brother-sister relationship — tying a rakhi to him can show that you have adopted him as your brother, and he has adopted you as a sister even if you are not related by blood. Addressing him with a word meaning brother in one of our many languages — in front of others will make things clear to all.
But first, you both need to be sure that the relationship is still that of a brother-sister, or just friends, or more. And the only way to find out is to meet and take it from there…
Nasreen Hashambhoy is a Counsellor, Life Coach and a Facilitator of training programmes for schools and corporates. Through a combination of coaching, counselling and facilitation techniques based on cognitive science and positive psychology, she helps clients achieve their true potential. She is the author of the series Values In Action published by Better Yourself Books.