Kashfia Hassan
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Learn from the mistakes of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
If that is the case, then we are one lucky family indeed. With a sister like mine, there is always a funny mishap to laugh at and a valuable lesson to learn from it. Although some of these incidents were worrisome at the time, we are glad that we can laugh about them now. Below is a list of some of the most memorable things my sister has taught me.
To always read labels carefully
My mother has a habit of collecting tiny shampoo bottles and hygiene packs from airplanes and hotels, because she thinks they are adorable. The other day, I was taking too long in the shower, and my sister was growing impatient as she couldn’t brush her teeth. So, she went through my mom’s collection, grabbed a pack and brushed her teeth in the guest bathroom.
Later, upon inspection, she found out that instead of toothpaste, she had used shaving foam to brush her teeth (in her defence, they both had identical tubes). Don’t know if you should be concerned about her health, or roll on the floor laughing.
To never leave candles unattended
When she was younger, my sister was a huge fan of Princess Diana. She collected her books, magazines, cassettes (yes, it was that long ago) and had numerous newspaper cut-outs of her photos. One day, she set up all her collected photos on our balcony and created a sort of shrine, lit candles, and then sat there staring at them.
She suddenly remembered that she wanted to add one more photo to her monument and got up to get it. When she returned, she found that a strong wind had blown everything around and some of the photos had landed in the flames. Her screams brought my parents in and they saved the day, but that day is probably the reason why I’m still afraid to leave my scented candles unattended. I surely took the lesson to heart.
To avoid extreme diets
When my sister was 16, she tried extreme measures to lose weight. She exercised as vigorously as possible and ate as meagrely as possible. No amount of scolding or pleading from my parents had any effect on her. As a result, she ended up resembling a walking skeleton and grew extremely weak.
One day, as she headed out of her school gates, she felt particularly lightheaded. She asked my mother for a drink of water and right when the flask hit her lips, she passed out and landed on a jhalmuri-seller’s stand, knocking over some of his packets and making a sweet mess.
When she came to her senses, she looked so pathetic, covered in stains and crumbs, even the jhalmuri-seller (whom my mother helped out of course) took pity on her and handed her a tomato to help her keep her strength up.
To always research
Even at the ripe age of 14, my sister was obsessed with skincare. She was always making all sorts of facemasks and trying out different ways to make her skin glow. When she heard from a friend that mud masks can be extremely good for your skin, she didn’t wait to find out the details.
She assumed any mud would do, so she headed straight to our garden and started digging. Thankfully, my mother walked in on her rubbing it all over her face, and after her she got over her initial shock, my mother calmly explained that the mud had to be processed before we could apply it to our face.
To use my favourite products instead of saving them forever
My sister always had a habit of saving her favourite products because she didn’t want them to run out. She had this perfumed lotion which she absolutely adored — she never let any of us use it and barely used it herself.
Then, one day, she noticed that the lotion was well past its expiry date. In a panicked frenzy, she quickly began rubbing it all over her arms to make up for the number of years she had lost, which resulted in a rash breaking out all over.
Luckily, the problem was solved easily with medication, but she moped around for days when she had to throw out the barely used tube of lotion without having enjoyed it.
Kashfia Hassan loves to write professionally and for fun.