Her name was Niharika. And her name was Neelima. The amazing thing about them was they were sisters. Sisters by blood, by nature and by looks.

Neelima was 12 then and Niharika was younger by 2 years. As usual the elder always wanted to be caretaker of her little sister. She wanted Niharika to listen to her every word with attention, to watch her every action with admiration and to follow her every way with passion.

And the younger always looked to her big sister for more affection and more attention. She absolutely adored the way Neelima called her: ‘Babu, do this’. ‘Babu, come here.’ ‘Babu, eat this’.

Her mama and papa used to call her Babu. It is a magic word for little Niharika. The word Babu is full of affection and security, a symbol of her family’s love and fondness for her. However, as she grew up, they stopped calling her Babu and began to use her name. To her amazement, in various forms: Niha, Hari, Niri and all that.

It is not that Niharika did not like her name, but she liked being called Babu most of all. The only person who still called her Babu was Neelima. How sweet her sister was, she wondered. She knew her mind.

Of course, Neelima knew her little sister’s favourite name was Babu. Whenever she said, ‘Babu, bring me some water,’ her sister would happily run to the kitchen to fetch her a glass of water. When their father said to her, ‘Nivi darling, bring me some water,’ she would reluctantly stare at her father.

There was another reason why Neelima still called Niharika Babu. She unconsciously did not like her little sister to grow up. She always wanted to see her as a little baby in her mother’s lap. She was the object of her affection and love. If Niharika grew up to become a big girl, Neelima would lose her effect on her, which she did not want to happen. But, ultimately and unfortunately for Neelima, it did happen one day.

On that fateful evening, Neelima asked Niharika to go out to play.

“No Didi, I am watching TV,” she said, her eyes glued to the television set.

“You must come, Babu. I told my friend I would bring you. We need three persons to play this game.”

“No, I won’t come,” Niharika said defiantly. “You take somebody else.”

Neelima was enormously displeased with her sister. “Babu, this is my final warning! You must come.”

Little sister got angry at this threat, fixed her eyes on her big sister and said in a firm tone, “I will not come”.

“In that case, I will not call you Babu anymore.”

“Then, I too will not call you Didi.”

From that moment onwards, Niharika never was Babu to her big sister and Neelima was never Didi to her little sister. At first Niharika felt awkward calling her elder sister by name, but she, being a stubborn and determined girl, continued to call her by name. ‘Neelima, help me in this.’ ‘Neelima, why don’t you come with me?’

Though the way the two sisters addressed each other had changed, the way they explored the world never changed. The surroundings and environment were always new and fascinating to them. They were always up to some experiment.

One afternoon, Neelima brought home two small fish, one each in a separate transparent carry bag half-filled with water. At that time, her mother was sleeping in the bedroom exhausted with the morning household work and father had gone to office.

“Hey, Niharika let’s go and play,” she called her little sister, who was scribbling something in her notebook. When Niharika saw the fish in the bags, her interest roused.

“What game?” she asked, following Neelima into the kitchen. There, without answering the question, Neelima took a big tub and filled it with water.

“Now we will start the game,” she announced. “Which fish do you want to own – male or female?”

“Female.”

Neelima poured the water from one of the carry bags into the tub. The fish slithered into the tub along with the water and started swimming freely with the newly found freedom. “This is your fish.”

“How do you know this is a female one?” asked a puzzled Niharika.

“I just know,” was the answer she got.

Then Neelima emptied the other bag also. “This is mine – male fish. Now these two fish will produce children.”

Niharika put a bewildered and confused face. “You know how children are produced?”

“Yes stupid, I know many things you just don’t know,” Neelima said proudly. “It is with the union of male and female.”

What was the union and how? Niharika was about to ask, but she stopped and looked keenly into the tub as the two fish – male and female – began to come closer. But the fish parted the ways before coming close enough to make babies. The two little sisters were disappointed.

“Wait!” said Neelima. “It will take some time for them to get accustomed to these waters.”

After a few minutes, the two fish did come closer and the male one (as per big sister) began to bite the female one.

“Neelima! Your fish is fighting with my fish,” cried Niharika.

“No, they aren’t fighting. It’s the way they love.”

“No Neelima, that stupid and gunda fish of yours will hurt my poor fish. See he is biting her.” A worried Niharika suddenly cupped her female fish with her two hands and ran towards the bathroom.

“Niharika, what are you doing? You are spoiling the game,” cried Neelima after her.

“No, I will never let your stupid rowdy fish to hurt my poor little thing,” Niharika said and carefully put her fish in a bucket full of water.

Thus the two sister's adventure with the two fish came to an end.