I never liked my twin sister when we were young. I found her to be too irritating. She used to pretend she was me, and eat my share of chocolates as well as hers. She used to pull my hair and run away. And as she could run very fast, I couldn’t catch her.

She didn’t like dolls, but preferred playing with toy guns and toy cars. She often dragged her cars into the dollhouse I had arranged with so much effort and destroy it, making me cry.

When we turned 12, things changed. I was like any other common 12-year-old girl, but she turned into a nasty tom boy. She wore the ugliest clothes — tee-shirts that were too big for her, torn baggy jeans. And she wore horrible chains around her neck that hung till her tummy. Her hairstyle was her worst feature — messy and untidy. She said that once she went off to college, she would have dreadlocks.

She used to think like a boy, and behave like one too. No wonder she won so many prizes and certificates for cricket and football matches.

One thing I liked about her was that she never got angry and was willing to help me in any way she could. She used to make me laugh with her silly behaviour. And I could always trust her, and share any secret because she never revealed it to a single living soul.

She gave the sweetest birthday gifts — things that I had always wanted. Once when we were 14, we went shopping. She saw me buy a second-hand book because I did not have enough pocket money. The next week, on our birthday she gave me the whole series of the book, and all of them first-hand. She had spent all her pocket money she had saved for months.

I could only give her a pair of sneakers and a large poster of Iron Maiden. Still she said those were the best gifts she ever got.

On our 16th birthday, she bought me a beautiful platinum bracelet inside which had these words inscribed: “To the best sister in the world, from the best ‘brother’ in the world.” I had a laugh, but yes, she was the best ‘brother’ ever.

We have grown up since, but my sister hasn’t changed much. She still is a ‘boy’, but thank God, she doesn’t have dreadlocks! I love her the same…even more than before. She is the best sister, oops brother, that I have.