The perfect balance of rivalry and revelry!

Very few relationships in life allow us to juggle between rivalry and revelry, effortlessly. And the one with our siblings definitely goes into that list.Call it balance or the bell curve, we all enjoy the pampering and the bantering with our siblings. Here's how life, in many ways changes after you have the little sibling in your life!

Being the first child of the house, I was pampered royally at home. And it took some time to digest sharing that privilege with someone else, especially when I was young! When all the eyes always looking at you, pulling your cheeks and carrying you all around the house is suddenly transferred to the new entrant of the house, it sometimes hits you hard!

When the little one is in your mother's tummy, you eagerly wait to welcome her into this world. You are delighted to have an addition into your life who is quite your age and can be a potential partner in crime. You are happy to imagine having a little sister to play around with you! You think this will be the end to the little occasional boredom you have in your life! And the day comes when she enters the world. You see a few jumping around to welcome her. A few shed tears of joy. And you, smile all along to have a new companion with you. There are new toys that come at home. You sometimes get a few new clothes while they buy many for the little one.

A few days pass by. Perhaps, a few weeks. And then you suddenly feel your importance going down. The frequency of people lifting and cuddling you exponentially reduces. It's probably an illusion that the innocent in you feels. An illusion that may probably last for a few years when you grow up. The thought of having to share your mother's love or your father's pampering does not go too well with you. There are times when you just feel like fighting with her not realizing that the tender kid has no clue what's going around and what is going through inside you.

Over time, the two of you grow up. The rivalry soon turns into revelry. There comes a stage where you enjoy picking up a fight with her, pull her leg, tease her but the moment a stranger raises their voice at her, the over protective elder sister in you wakes up and you probably make that voice heard! It's even worse if it's some bully in school who tortures her. Over time, may be you do not even realize, but she secretly starts looking up to you. She learns from the scolding you get at home and that saves her from being a victim at home. She probably never gets reprimanded or beaten as you've probably taken her share of them too a few years ago! She's usually smarter since she starts reading your novels very young, much before she gets to your age. She hates it when teachers at school compare her with you. It's even worse if you were a teachers' pet. She gets famous in school because of you but she wants to be known by her identity. The thought of being called your sister does not go too well with her. She may hate to wear your old clothes or old shoes but as a consolation, she gets a personal tutor to help her with her homework. Slowly, she consults you for life's decisions because she knows you've been there and done that! And she finds out that you probably understand her the best!

I guess the bond further strengthens as life goes towards coming a full circle. She'll fight for you with your parents for you to get permission to go out for dinner. She will be your most honest critic and one of your best friends. One, that you can confide in, for life. You start sharing small secrets with each other. You start telling each other your priorities, your likes and your tastes. There can be differences in opinion but then you are mature enough to now discuss it out and appreciate each other's point of view. There are times when others try to get the rivalry in you two by asking who's better among the two of you. And you'll find each other pointing their fingers on the other one with a smile. You need to be her chef, care-taker, chauffeur and cleaner. All of it, when your parents are out of station and have entrusted the responsibility of taking care of her on you. And you really don't mind it then because you get to the boss of the house. You can command her to do things and get them done easily. There are times when you team up to fight with your parents explaining to them how times have changed and how we must keep moving forward. In addition to all this, the two of you become each other's shopping buddies, street food partners, beauty experts and above all the go-to-buddy in times of crisis.

We soon reach a state when the bond gets really special! This love, care and affection erases all those memories of fight and jealousy from our childhood.. And, we silently thank god for giving us this partner-in-crime in life. Once a rival, but now you revel in each other's company!