I am not sure how long I have been sleeping - can't be more than 15 minutes. I open the door and find my oldest cousin (who should be 30+) standing outside with a glass of alcohol asking me whether I can accomodate his brother, ~A in my room since it's just my bro and I in our room. I am not too clear about what I am saying but before I could say yes or no, ~A hopped into our room. Now, this is not something I talk about often - but my cousin ~A is mentally challenged. He is 28 years old, makes sense when he talks but his mental growth is that of a 7 or 8 year old. He has a compulsive desire to tear his clothes and get into bouts of sulkiness but otherwise, I have found him ok. I don't know if it's because I have grown up or all the ridicule he's been facing since childhood is finally affecting him for worse - but he was close to terrible this time over. He kept saying the same things over and over again and was being totally irresponsible.

Anyways, one among the few good virtues I have is patience. So, I took off his slippers, found him a blanket and asked him to get into the middle of bed so that he wouldn't fall of. Once he got comfortable, he started talking to my brother who was having a terrible bout of headache. My brother screamed at him immediately and asked him to sleep on the floor. I couldn't help much coz, there have been times in the past where I have been specifically asked not to let him lie in the corner of a bed. So, I spread the blanket on the floor, gave him my pillow and let him sleep there. But the problem was he wouldn't - he would try starting off a conversation every fifteen minutes and my brother and I would take turns and ask him to shut up. His voice would fade as if he was scared and after 15 minutes, he would give it a go again. Finally, probably at around 2 either we stopped bothering or he grew tired and slept off. That, unfortunately, was not the end of the story. He woke up again at 4:30 and starting shaking me asking me to wake up. I switched on the light to check the time and it was wayyy to early. He tried for about 20 minutes and again this time, it was my brother who couldn't stand it anymore and snapped at him. ~A then leaves the room, but forgets to close the door and leaves it ajar. I realize it one hour later when the hotel guy serving tea was next to my bed and shocked me out of my wits. Seems, our guy went down to the reception, woke up that guy and ordered tea for all our relatives staying in this lodge. I am not sure whether I felt good about having some company.

I am wondering how it would be to live with someone like this for a whole lifetime. 28 years is a long time. I have always ridiculed people who make fun of him. But I probably never realized what it takes to live with and love someone like this.

- posted by Super Ted @ 1:51 AM