Happy Being the only Child? Think Again...

Being the only child sans any siblings always had its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages, of course, were
that there was no need to share any damn thing on this earth that someone gives you. Everything was just mine.
There was no need to impress and flatter parents or elders for that matter to be their favourite, unlike in school where one
has to try to flatter the teacher to be her "pet".

But today when I look back, I think that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. The selfish and self-centered
individual is delighted at the thought of not having to share anything, but I am someone far from that. There were so
many moments where I missed the company of an elder brother. I used to be really jealous of my friends who had
elder brothers who used to dote on them. I could never experience the pleasure of growing up with an elder brother
who makes the kid brother more mature than his age. I never got the opportunity of hanging around and partying with
friends of elder bros. Apart from that, the shell that an elder brother builds around his kid bro, who means the world to
him, was always missing in my case. During my growing up days, I was baffled with a lot of problems which I thought meant the world to me. But today they seem highly trivial to me. I desperately needed someone with whom I could talk to and find a solution to them. Friends of course were the only choice for me, but your aged people could never give a good solution. The solutions I got were highly immature and today when I think of them, I am broken into bouts of laughter!!! I needed someone who was elder to me and
who had gone through a similar phase earlier. Parents, for sure, could never be approached. Situations like these make you
feel the void in your life, which can be filled only with the presence of an elder sibling.

Elder sisters are definitely more organised and they demand more discipline from the brother. They play the role of
your mother in her absence. I always thought sharing a room with an elder sister would be a nightmare, what with she always
wanting the room to be spotless, no pencil shavings on the ground, the bedsheet should be tightly pulled when you get up
from the bed, the toilet seat should not be left up after using it, the mirror should not have dried water spots on it, the soft
board should be covered with dainty feminine stuff,....phew!!! But I think an elder sister gives you a peek into the psyche
of a girl whom you might like. Knowing what girls like, always makes you more approachable, more likeable and more
popular among the fairer sex. Belonging to a boy's school, I learnt this things quite late in life, but I did learn them successfully!!
Though sisters threaten to complain at every move of yours, they do conceal you from those dreaded beatings. But the pain
when she leaves you after marrying, again leaves that void which is quite deep. You then always long for those nagging
comments from your sister which were the reasons for major quarrels. Inside your heart you know, that will never happen
for the rest of your life.

But I must say I have been successful in building an amazing support system around myself with my cousins to whom I am no
less dearer than their own siblings and friends who have been more than brothers to me. But still the feeling of having someone
with you 24/7 while growing up was never destined to be a part of my memories....