JOINT FAMILY – A FORGOTTEN TRADITION

In my younger days, as also with others my age (I am now 55), I fondly remember spending my younger days with all my cousins having  lots of fun and frolic in a huge house. We as children were unaware of any family differences between the elders. Not that there were no fights between us children, but often it passed off as passing phase. We did observe however, that our parents went about doing specific tasks by sharing the total work. We imbibed qualities of sharing, adjusting, delegation into our character. Our grandparents were darlings.who were compassion incarnate. We gleefully awaited sleeping time everyday, that used to come early, so that we could hear from one grandparent those beautiful stories of Krishna, Ram, Eklavya and so many others. These taught us values. We observed the authority of the  seniormost member of the family who was respected. At the sametime observed the opinions sought from all. We learnt good governance. The festivals and marriages had meaning. They were mini melas, the celebrations  palpable, the spirits high, the involvement true. The kitchen was a small factory whose produce were awaited and enjoyed by all of the family as well as guests. The houses were surrounded by various trees and plants and we contributed Uto tending them. We climbed, touched & hugged them as if they were part of the family. Small problems got dissolved and almost never came into the open. Family crisis were handled together and individual crisis got the support of the entire family. There were affection, bonding and  unity. There was freedom for the righteousness, but not for wrongdoings. The punishment was immediate and insulting to the offender. So there was an unwritten penal code.

In the last 40 years, this system started breaking up and today lie shattered, giving rise to a lot of social problems. Now the cases have piled up in courts due to a lack of such shock-absorbers. There is a decay in values. So called freedom, wrongly understood from western culture,  has turned individuals into self-centered behavior damaging surroundings and environment. The technology, such as mobile phones, more misused than used have contributed more to an overall degradation.

The youth of today must think about rights & wrongs. I have found a tendency in youth of today to summarily reject anything connected with tradition.They must acknowledge the inherent goodness in them and adopt its merits. They cannot have short-term perspectives in this because nature & societies are permanant and in a way guardians of our race.