The "only child" syndrome!

I grew up all alone, with no brothers or sisters. I am the "only child" to my parents and hence, the object of all affection, anger and frustration. I have always hated being a "singleton" as the term goes these days. Although it does have its own perks (like getting ice cream whenever I want, without having to share it with another sibling, or getting loads of clothes at one shot 'cos there's no one else to squander my dad's money), it has it's disadvantages as well!

I am the center of attention of my parents' lives and though this sounds like a good thing, believe me, it is not! I had to bear the brunt of my mom's anger when it came to bad grades and at those times, I really wished for an irresponsible brother who got even worse grades than me, so that mom would compare him to me and tell him what a good sister he had! When it came to music and arts, my mom was so protective that she would always insist that the "paatu teachers" should come home and impart music knowledge to me rather than me stepping out into the big, bad world, as a result of which - I have become a bathroom singer, instead of challenging Lata Mangeshkar on stage. Same applied to dance lessons as well! Although one would have thought that veena would have been a good alternative, as the teachers would be more willing to come home and teach me, the idea was immediately shot down as it would mean having 2 veenas in the house and that meant more expenses!! So, there you go, now you know why this creature turned out to be one with no musical talents. Blame it all on being the only child!! Oh, I almost forgot all the times that I had to return home by 6:00 PM (before dark) and wasn't allowed to go to any New Year parties or anything of that kind for fear of "falling into the wrong hands".

Whenever I used to talk to my friends about the "only child" syndrome, they always used to remark on how lucky I was NOT to have any other siblings. I always heard horror stories about how the first-born had to take responsibility for all the things (read, all the wrong things) that happened in the absence of the parents and how the younger sibling got away with anything and everything 'cos (s)he was the "little one"!! But, as the only child, I never got the chance to tease a brother or sister, play pranks on him/her, fight over the smallest of things (like, who got a new atlas that year) or learn to share things at an early age. I always envied friends when they talked about their latest skirmishes with their siblings or about how they sought advise about a particular problem from their sibling instead of taking it to their parents. And I always wanted someone with whom I could commiserate during all the fights that my parents went through. It sure would have been nice to have someone to talk to that knew what was going on then!

I am not "spoilt" like the usual stereotyped notion that goes along with only children. I am just someone who is used to getting all that she wants without having to ask twice! If I had to ask twice, I just had to safely assume that this wasn't something that my parents intended to give me anytime soon! If I needed anything, that would be there before I even opened my mouth to ask for it. If I wanted something, I just had to wait long enough to finish what I was asking for and it would be in front of me. That said, it was much more difficult for me than other people with siblings to adjust to the life in the US without parents. Here, no one gives you anything if you ask for it. In fact, you have to make sure you grab something before someone else reaches for it first!! But I learnt the art of living by myself and soon I was spoiling myself like never before!

Now comes the worst part of being the only child! Marriage!! With no one else ahead of me to worry about, my parents are giving me their whole-hearted concentration in getting me to agree for marriage! This started at a tender age of 20 ( I know people of the older days would say that I am a very lucky person when they read this!) and I have been asked to consider prospective alliances ever since! Parents have this thing about completing their duties and all and apparently the only thing remaining in their list of "things to do" is to get me married! And being the only child, I have to expect the question of "Were you spoilt by your parents?" every single time I talk to someone.

Growing up alone is never fun, however much it appears to be. With all the luxury attached to being an only child, I think growing up with someone else teaches you to share, adjust and take responsibility for your actions.

To summarize, all this has made me resolve two things:
1. When I have kids, I will not stop with one (LOL, I still haven't decided the upper limit as yet) and
2. errr... I will definitely have more than one kid!!!!