Skip to main content

India and joint families

Most Indians of my generation have grown up in a joint family setup. The family was always there for support, for strength and for sharing burden.

Mass migration to larger towns and cities broke up joint families giving rise to the nuclear families. The new Indian middle class was very happy to be free from the responsibilities of a joint family.

The joy was short lived. Soon the people realised that we may be westernised but our systems are not. Putting your kid in a crèche while going to work was not very good for the child. Or cooking a meal after coming back from work wasn't very pleasant. The bigger issue was the lack of support system in the nuclear families. The comfort of having your own around in times of need. We may quarrel often but still family is family.

Indians always find a way to make up for their shortcomings through jugaad. And that's exactly what we have done.

The joint family version 2 is a modified version of the joint family of yore but with a slight change. Now friends and neighbours are family. One large big united family united by the need to find a support system.

The high rise buildings and modern societies have also contributed to the rise of this culture of modern joint family.

Your neighbours are your friends in need. Doubling up as your relatives when manpower is needed during hospitalisation and other regular mundane emergencies

The best part of this system is : we Indians love to be together through thick and thin. And that's how our children will learn sharing and caring. A new type of family values will develop where our children learn to see our friends as family and the children of our friends their siblings from another mother.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You complete me!

Just as the birds are happiest when their wings kiss the sky Just as the babies sleep blissfully Listening to their mother's lullaby You complete me Just as the butterflies blissfully suckle at the flowers Just as the lovers stare at the window of their love for hours You complete me Just as the earth devotedly revolves around the sun Just as the seven colours in sunlight Become one You complete me You are the poetry my soul has been seeking for years Your laughter and smiles brings me Fresh happy tears Together we are complete and strong Together we can make right all that's wrong You complete me Be with me forever till I'm alive Breathe with me & never leave my side Complete my life and stay in there forever fill my soul with happiness and pride You complete me
Post a Comment
Read more

Nature calling!

There is a tiny little compass within us, our conscience, the keeps giving us signals. There are times when it keeps warning us of the dangers of the city life we are living. It gives us hint of being at home when we are in the middle of nature. We are all like tiny parts of the nature we are so foolishly moving away from. And that's why we feel so much at home when we go to these places. We are parts of them - the air, the water, the soil, the fire that makes us us. Not the iphones and fancy toys we are so attached to these days. Let's make it a point to live closer to nature. To breathe pure air. To drink water unadulterated by modernism. To think thoughts that are pure and in tandem with the cosmos. There is a monk within us. Why do we hide him? Why do we not listen to him? We must. Before it's too late!
Post a Comment
Read more

The power of hope

In my view, the gift of hope is the greatest gift mankind has with it. Every achievement no matter how small starts with this ability of ours - hope. And from hope arises the second gift we have - trust It's a combination of hope and trust that actually runs this world. When we get into a plane and are flying in the air with no safety net whatsoever, hope that we will be safe and the trust that a few of our species namely the engineers and pilots and even the person filling the fuel in the aircraft have done their best. We trust their ability to take care of us. The pilots do the same with pharmacists who design pills that we eat without thinking if we will be alive. Because we hope that we will get well and we trust our fellow humans. Name a profession, and we are bound by an unseen contract of hope and trust with humanity. The army, the farmers, the barbers, the bakers, the teachers, the nurses....the list is endless but yet the hope and trust is what we really buy in return for ...
Post a Comment
Read more