Who Else?

Ankita had won the first prize in a dance competition over the weekend and we were discussing it all along. Anu was pretty much bored with it and kept wondering how to distract us. When we were returning home from the competition, she held Ankita's certificate and asked me "Mama would you be as happy if I won something?". I knew she was always jealous of her sister so I nodded a quick YES. She did not seem convinced.

That evening Anu returned home from school. I was busy getting dinner ready so that we could sit down and finish home work. She is a finicky eater so I have to be specially patient with her otherwise very often, her tears wash the rice away. But today she was taking a long time to come out of the rest room. I kept calling her amidst the evening chaos but she was taking unusually long. I barked her name loudly one last time and started to count 5 as I always do. At 5 she came out with a smile on her face and her hands hiding something behind her back. Impatiently I asked her what it was. She looked at me and said "Mama would you be happy if I showed you something that I got"? I said "Yes". She brought out a certificate that read "...Aparna Ray for a DYNAMITE job in language Arts". There was much squealing and shrieking and hugging and kissing that went on for a few minutes. Aparna was happy and convinced that her parents were proud of her too. Then my husband broke the spell and asked the inevitable question "who else got this certificate?". Aparna walked away towards the refrigerator door, with the award in her hand, to pin it up there and managed a shrug " I don't know who else, Baba'.
I thought of the umpteen times I had heard that question "Who Else". Those two words that so carefully defined our whole life's competitive arena.