Scene 1: Sometime in 2002 in the evening classroom of Satyamurthy school in T-Nagar, voice of Prof. Govindarajan “When the parents first have a baby, they are not used to holding a new born. So they tend to be careless, u know drop it a couple of times, bang its head against the wall and all. That is why the first borns are… you know.. not very normal. The 2nd time they are experienced and so… The point is the first element of the periodic table is different from the rest in its group..”
Scene 2: Sunday afternoon in 2008 at T2 Sarvabhouma Nagar with roomies, Cheese Burst Pizza and the laptop playing ‘Sorry Bhai’ movie. “Shit! Just realized we are all first borns here man! How can he do that?? That too when its Chitrangada Singh!!” “You never know dude! And this guy Sanjay Suri has to give up just cos he is an elder brother! Its almost like if you are first born you have to be the sacrificing one! How unfair is that!” “ROFL.. Don’t worry too much. If you don’t land Chitrangada, it won’t be cos you are first born but cos you are you :P “ “*sociological and anatomical references*”
I guess you get the gist of the blog. No, no not the tongue-in-cheek one – the other one. Something is different if you are first born which is strangely not the case if you are an only child. I know the younger ones have a story of their own, but this is a general guide to thinking like a First Born.
I’m elder and so I must be grownup
When you are a kid and your parents attend to this new born trying to sell you the concept of sibling, you realize if you can’t beat them you might as well join them. Plus when you still do not know what a pain being a grown up is, you are in a hurry to be treated as an adult.
And so, you start with the typical acting grown up. “Fetch the ball from the drain since you are the youngest”, “Go study! Let me play roadrash” “No, you cannot watch Titanic! It has scenes that are unsuitable for you”. The end result is that, you start enjoying the ‘responsibility’ and hence you stop acting your age.
I know what you did last summer, cos I did it the summer before
This is the pain part. The first borns have been there before their siblings and hence they watch for symptoms that tell them it has happened. ‘Clear History’ and ‘1Rs Pepsi’ – typical example. Combined with the ‘responsible’ tag they are either caring or walking lie detectors.
They are very careful to cover the tracks, leave no incriminating evidence (or so they think) and this shall slowly turn to ‘cautious in everything’. Like the supreme court that sits on cases for years where there is no precedence, decision making is slower. (no, no, stop guessing where this is headed)
Sterotyping the Bhaiya
I don't know if it was intentional but religion and popular literature has also played a part in stereotyping the first born. As I had tweeted sometime ago, take the stories – Yudhishtir Vs Arjun, Balaram Vs Krishna, Rama Vs Lakshmana, Ganesha Vs Muruga, Frank Hardy Vs Joe Hardy, Yashraj Movies (Vijayakanth’s too) for God’s sake! And so fed with years of stereotyping there is a common theme no? I hope not. They might neither be as virtuous nor as boring – just slightly better at managing their image! Also slightly clueless about the ‘latest’ technology. (On diet so staying away from food – Gingerbread, ICS and all)
Maybe single children have room for making mistakes and the younger siblings have shadow they learn to be comfortable with. Just that if you are a first born – *understanding nod*. We are doing a great job! Here's to us!
Scene 2: Sunday afternoon in 2008 at T2 Sarvabhouma Nagar with roomies, Cheese Burst Pizza and the laptop playing ‘Sorry Bhai’ movie. “Shit! Just realized we are all first borns here man! How can he do that?? That too when its Chitrangada Singh!!” “You never know dude! And this guy Sanjay Suri has to give up just cos he is an elder brother! Its almost like if you are first born you have to be the sacrificing one! How unfair is that!” “ROFL.. Don’t worry too much. If you don’t land Chitrangada, it won’t be cos you are first born but cos you are you :P “ “*sociological and anatomical references*”
I guess you get the gist of the blog. No, no not the tongue-in-cheek one – the other one. Something is different if you are first born which is strangely not the case if you are an only child. I know the younger ones have a story of their own, but this is a general guide to thinking like a First Born.
I’m elder and so I must be grownup
When you are a kid and your parents attend to this new born trying to sell you the concept of sibling, you realize if you can’t beat them you might as well join them. Plus when you still do not know what a pain being a grown up is, you are in a hurry to be treated as an adult.
And so, you start with the typical acting grown up. “Fetch the ball from the drain since you are the youngest”, “Go study! Let me play roadrash” “No, you cannot watch Titanic! It has scenes that are unsuitable for you”. The end result is that, you start enjoying the ‘responsibility’ and hence you stop acting your age.
I know what you did last summer, cos I did it the summer before
This is the pain part. The first borns have been there before their siblings and hence they watch for symptoms that tell them it has happened. ‘Clear History’ and ‘1Rs Pepsi’ – typical example. Combined with the ‘responsible’ tag they are either caring or walking lie detectors.
They are very careful to cover the tracks, leave no incriminating evidence (or so they think) and this shall slowly turn to ‘cautious in everything’. Like the supreme court that sits on cases for years where there is no precedence, decision making is slower. (no, no, stop guessing where this is headed)
Sterotyping the Bhaiya
I don't know if it was intentional but religion and popular literature has also played a part in stereotyping the first born. As I had tweeted sometime ago, take the stories – Yudhishtir Vs Arjun, Balaram Vs Krishna, Rama Vs Lakshmana, Ganesha Vs Muruga, Frank Hardy Vs Joe Hardy, Yashraj Movies (Vijayakanth’s too) for God’s sake! And so fed with years of stereotyping there is a common theme no? I hope not. They might neither be as virtuous nor as boring – just slightly better at managing their image! Also slightly clueless about the ‘latest’ technology. (On diet so staying away from food – Gingerbread, ICS and all)
Maybe single children have room for making mistakes and the younger siblings have shadow they learn to be comfortable with. Just that if you are a first born – *understanding nod*. We are doing a great job! Here's to us!
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