Manavi glanced up at the clock. It was just around five o’clock on a muggy July afternoon. She pushed a lock of wavy hair off her broad forehead, then stretched and smiled happily. Homework all done! Now she could concentrate on preparing for her quiz competition. 13-year-old Manavi was an enthusiastic quizzer and her ambition was to participate in Junior KBC one day and that needed a lot of preparation. Just as she pulled out the quiz book, she heard the patter of running feet and groaned.

Her bedroom door was flung open. Varun and Tarun, her ten-year-old twin brothers burst in with identical grins on their round faces and their brown eyes were dancing with mischief. “Look at this!” they cried.

Manavi squinted at the object Varun was holding, then squealed, ‘Eee-eee!’

A lizard! Anticipating his next move, she sprang up from her chair but he flung it at her before she could dodge it.

Manavi screamed even louder and both Varun and Tarun clapped their hands and whooped with laughter. Shuddering, she cast a fearful glance at the lizard lying on the ground and realised that it was not moving. It was plastic!

‘You brats!’ she yelled.

The two laughed even louder. Furious, Manavi picked up a pencil from her desk and hurled it at them. An eraser, sharpener, whatever else she could grab followed, but the two avoided them all swiftly. In the meantime, they kept chanting:

Manavi, Shanavi
Went to eat khandavi!
Khandavi fell plop!
Manavi went flop!

“Shut up! Shut up! I’m your older sister!” Manavi yelled. She picked up one of her slippers and threw it at them.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“It must be our ice cream!” Tarun cried, and they made a beeline for the living room.

Manavi mopped her brow and sighed heavily. The twins were incorrigible. Everyone told her that she was lucky to have two younger brothers, but she was not so sure many a time. Especially when they played silly pranks on her and a teenager like her was forced to come down to their kiddish level to retaliate. They had no respect for her elder sister status.

She was bending to pick up all the stuff she had thrown when she heard her mother call out, “Manavi, can you come here?”

Now what? The murmur of voices told her that it must be visitors. She made a face. When would she find time to prepare for the important quiz?

Reluctantly she made her way into the living room. A lady around her mother’s age stood there along with a girl who looked around her own age.

“Come and meet our new neighbours, Mrs Lal and her daughter, Aisha,” Mom said, smiling.

Manavi folded her hands politely to the lady and said “Hi” to the girl. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the twins watching them curiously.

“Please take a seat,” Mom said. “Would you like some tea or nimbu pani?”

The offer was declined politely but the chocolates Manavi was asked to fetch accepted.

“You seem the same age as Aisha,” Mrs Lal beamed. “You can be good company for each other. Aisha’s an only child, so it will be wonderful for her.”

Mom agreed enthusiastically and Manavi smiled and nodded, too, though, looking at her new neighbour, she got the gut feeling that they were unlikely to hit it off.

Aisha was skinny and looked subdued, with a hesitant smile and nervous hands. Then Mom suggested that she take Aisha to her room. When they entered, Manavi flushed with embarrassment. The place was a total mess, with stuff strewn all over. She could see Aisha trying not to look shocked and cursed the twins mentally. Did they have to get up to their antics today of all days?

She tried to clear up hurriedly and picked up the chappal which had landed on the bean bag. Aisha sat down on it gingerly while Manavi perched on her bed and tried to make conversation. It was heavy going because Aisha was rather stiff and didn’t seem to have much to say. She gazed awestruck at the row of trophies on display – all the prizes Manavi had won in quizzes and became even quieter. When Manavi asked her about her interests, she said, “Oh…I like to cook sometimes.” Apologetically, as if it were a disqualification.

And then the twins rushed in. They stared at Aisha for a while as if trying to take her measure, then Varun darted out of the room and reappeared with a monopoly board.

“Shall we play?” he demanded.

“Wait a minute!” Manavi exclaimed. “Aren’t you first going to ask Aisha if she likes to play Monopoly?” She herself was not too much into board games but had to humour her brothers sometimes.

Aisha’s face lit up, however. “I’d love to. I play a lot with my grandmother,” she said.

As a courtesy to her guest, Manavi had to join in, too. She was surprised when, after a while, Aisha loosened up and got enthusiastically involved in the game.

Excerpted with permission from Hey Sis! Hey Bro!: Celebrating The Sibling Bond, Deepa Agarwal, Scholastic India.