Relation – Nieces and Nephews

Nieces and nephews were always a matter of great love, affection and a strange genetic understanding. My little niece, Sneha, all of four, is a little glob of happiness in my otherwise loveless life. A relation so difficult to outline, it surely lends an inexplicable joy and contentment in anybody's life (or should I say most people).

I have tried jotting down some possible reasons for this strange affinity of aunts to nieces and nephews.

• Firstly, since you get to see, know, nurture and watch them grow inch by inch (if they are staying in the same house or at least in the same city, that is), you are more often than not attracted to these little things on a personal level. Given that he/she is your sibling's child makes the sentiment grow stronger.
  
• Secondly, bearing the same gene in your system leads you to an uncontrollable attraction towards the tot. Due to biological as well as emotional reasons the child is drawn towards its aunt or uncle. Sad, but a lot of clinical reasoning goes into this.
  
• Thirdly, a child in the family is a treasure for all. Starting from its grandparents to parents to aunts and uncles, all extend constant and loving attention to the little child, making him/her feel a special thing and stimulating an attraction in them towards their affection-givers.
  

Sneha's love for her pipi is a sheer testimonial to this article. Come each Saturday and I wait as much as she does when she comes down to our place with her parents to visit her grandparents. Call it a strange relation - nieces and nephews do matter a lot.