Samhi C. – Features Editor

skc5908@psu.edu

The other day, my younger brother told me about an exchange between him and his friend: 

Brother’s Friend: Yo, who lives in a pineapple under the sea? 

Brother: What the frick are you talking about? I don’t know? 

Brother’s Friend: [gasping] What? What do you mean you don’t know? [gets attention of their other friend] Bro, who lives in a pineapple under the sea? 

Brother’s Other Friend: Spongebob Squarepants.

Brother’s Friend: See! Even he knows and he didn’t even grow up here. How could you not know that it’s Spongebob Squarepants? 

Brother: [shrugs] 

At first, I too, like my brother’s friend, was shocked. How did he not know? I mean, “Spongebob Squarepants” was my entire childhood. For years, any time I had access to the TV, it was the first thing I looked for in the Nickelodeon channel guide. It made no sense that my brother who grew up in the same household at the same time who did know that the show existed did not know the opening line of the iconic theme song.

And then, in montage style, our childhood rolled before my eyes and I realized the truth: I was a TV hog. 

Growing up, there was no way in hell I would allow my brother to even hold the remote which meant his main form of entertainment came by way of taking my parents’ laptop and scrolling through the same black and white Telugu films my mother was watching. Once in a while, I would allow my brother to sit with me, but most of the time, I did not invite him to watch shows with me. He was a little kid who I could not connect with. It was a bad habit that did not change until he got to middle school. 

I felt bad when I realized I was the reason my brother did not know who lived in a pineapple under the sea.

By no means is he in any way bitter about the fact. I think I care about it more than he ever will. But nonetheless, I find it important to acknowledge that I have deprived him of being able to grow up with the epitome of childhood cartoons that allow you to laugh so hard that you forget the rest of the world. I wish I had shared that experience with him and was not a b*tch about letting him watch TV with me. This summer, when I go home, the first thing I will do as a graduation gift to myself is find episodes of “Spongebob” somewhere and sit down with my brother so we can watch them and laugh together. Because the only thing better than laughing by yourself is laughing with someone you care about.