Hearing Silence

The silence at the other end was indescribable. It said it all, that words could never have said. It is amazing how saying nothing says it all.

Siblings are born in the same house, they grow up together, they share the same memories, the same childhood, the same parents. But then they grow out to be different individuals, with different interests, different dreams, different choices, different paths, different families of their own. Though they start from the same point but continue to drift away from each other for the rest of their lives. Earlier the evening, over the phone I found my mother upset for being trapped in an alley with a dead end after having a row with her siblings. She is talkative and capable of expressing her emotions and opinions. But that day she stayed back from speaking out and letting me console her. It meant that she was so distressed that she was not being herself at that time. Later that night when I talked to my brother asking one by one all those things that I could think of asking, he replied humbly with what short replies he had. At last the complete silence at the other end was so intriguing and impactful, it had some hidden message that my younger brother teleported over the phone line. He asked me without asking, that will we also have pity rows over small matters and stretch them for life when we grow up, will we also grow apart? But I had no answer to his unspoken concern, and in the moment of confusion I said goodbye and the line went dead.

I know it hurts when siblings drift apart, but then they have to drift apart.

It is indeed the law of nature.