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LIFE AND LIES #33 | Free Trade Agreements

"It's a typo," I interrupt my sister. "Correct it."

She's working from home and I am on leave and have got nothing better to do.

"No, it's not," she replies after pondering for a while.

"Ok, there's no such thing as CECPA," I begin. "It's CEPA - free trade agreement between India and South Korea. Don't you remember? A year ago, I told you that this will be the first thing your interviewers ask you. And then...there's CECA - a free trade agreement between Indian and Malaysia, and I think Singapore also. Anyway, my point is... there is no such thing as CECPA."

"Actually, my dear brother," she smiles. "There is. CECPA is a free trade agreement between India and Mauritius."

I stand there silent for a moment. Didn't I have all the FTAs on the tips of my tongue? Yes, I left college almost four years ago but I did teach all that stuff to my sister, just a year ago.

I go over the acronym again.

CECPA.

Unlike my friend, my first instinct isn't to Google. I rack my brains first. Yes, I trust my memory that much.

"Don't torture yourself," she says when I don't speak for a while. "It was signed this year only. You must not have read about it in college."

"Okay."

Was I supposed to be relieved now?

I look at my sister. She just trumped me at what I considered was my thing. All that without changing an expression. Were I in her place, I would have been doing a victory dance.

Then I realize that she has no comprehension of how far she has come in the past year. Somehow completed her Master's in a hardly known subject during COVID times, with no clue what to do next career-wise, before landing a job in the Global Trade domain, something she had no idea about.

Though I often make fun of her by saying that I made her what she is, I know, in my heart that it's not true. Had it just been an outcome of my efforts, she would not have sucked at Mathematics back in school.

She has just completed one year at her first job. And I am not aware of what her boss thinks of her performance. I know that her school and college friends hardly have any clue about her job, nor do my parents and relatives. Who else is there in her life? If there's a boyfriend, she's definitely doing a good job hiding it from a nosy brother like me.

That leaves me.

So what should I do to tell her that I am really proud of her? She doesn't let me buy anything for her. Apparently, I don't know her taste. A hug then? A pat on the back? No, she thinks it's cringe-worthy.

Ok, I got it.

"Listen," I announce. "Try to save as much as possible since you are working from home. When this COVID thing dies down, we'll take a Euro Trip together."

***

Dedicated to my sister, Ayushi!




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  1. Anonymous11:37 AM, August 31, 2022

    I also want to join that trip 😅

    ReplyDelete

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