By now, you know that
I belong to a huge group of siblings. To be precise, seven sisters and five
brothers. Of them, the eldest sister is my own and others are cousins. Growing
up in a joint family has its pros and cons. There are grannies, uncles and
aunts, cousins and others. The list keeps getting bigger when the children get
married and there are sisters-in-laws, brothers-in-laws plus nephews and
nieces.
People who have
siblings are no stranger to the concept of sibling rivalries. Even I have faced
it, but certainly in a good way. Having about three cousins of same age made us
triplets of sorts in the eyes of the elders and having other three cousins who
are not very young than me, made me feel like a pseudo elder sister types. Like
they will address me as elder sister or Didi but we never behaved like elder
and young cousins to each other. But when it came to my elder sister, it was
more like a mother-daughter relationship than actual sister kind relationship.
Didi, as I address her,
is no less a parent for me. Right from childhood, we’ve been taught that any
elder in the family should be given equal respect as you would give to your
parents. Didi has always been special. And more out of respect and love, I feel
like a small kid in front of her. We don’t fight over clothes or wardrobe
spaces, or who gets how much share in the food. We share a unique bonding where
we don’t need to tell how special we are for each other. Being a younger sister
to her, Didi has always been protective about me; be it when it came to saving
me from ma’s scolding, holding hands till the time she dropped me to school or
advising me which course to take up for studies. I have even been scolded for
not being a cleanliness freak, not finishing food on time or feeling depressed
about situations that were beyond my control. If you have parents to bring you
up, God gifts you elder sister for being the emotional shield that you need to
survive.
There are both
advantages and disadvantages of having an elder sister. The advantages are that
you are showered with the exact gifts you wish for, the clothes that eye for a
long time, the books that you want to read and so on. The only disadvantage is
that you are never considered a grown up even to her. Take for instance, when I
wasn’t keeping well, she assigned my nephew the job of making me finish my food
because he is the only person on earth who can be successful in a single
attempt or making both of us share chocolates like siblings (my nephew and
me!).
The equation between
sisters differ depending on the comfort level, and for us, it’s more about love
and respect for each other.
I am linking this post
to A to Z Challenge #Day 19 for alphabet S.