My sister, Rema and her family had planned to come this day to spend a day with us on the occasion of onam. The decision was taken over a month ago when they'd spent a weekend here. It was to be on the return leg of their journey from my brother-in-law's house.
My junior uncle had planned at least three times, in the recent past, to come and spend a day with us but had to give up each time because we're out of station on some pretext or the other. Last week, while we're at Madras, he'd told us about his plans to join us this day on the return leg from his son-in-law's house.
I'd, purposely, avoided telling the both of them about the timing of their visit because they'd have cancelled their plan to avoid 'burdening' us with their combined presence...... Accordingly, the first batch had arrived around 1930h and the second, an hour later. And weren't they taken by surprise, but all the same, enjoyed meeting each other after what had seemed to be a long time!
The house was teeming with people which reminded me of my younger days as part of a joint family system. There used to be fun and gaiety on a continuous basis, ideas seemed to flow without restraint and as children, we'd a huge contingent to play and fight with, making and unmaking 'enemies' in the bargain! All those images, along with an extremely happy mom, made my evening. There was a lot of catching up to do, which was accomplished through the prevalent boisterousness.
And whenever I'm reminded about the good old days of the joint family system, can the nostalgic memories of the 'radio with the magic eye' be far behind? It was the main source of entertainment, come to think of it! The set in my grandparents' house was a 'Murphy', if my memory serves me right, around which the entire family would conglomerate every Saturday for catching up on the sound track of popular Malayalam movies.
Tailpiece.
Why did the joint family system have to break down? I've tried to pin point one singular reason for its downfall. Was it sibling rivalry? Not entirely. To my mind, it's a lack of leadership - the patriarch of impeccable integrity, clear vision, a high sense of fair play and the arbiter of justice without fear or favour is a thing of the past, an essential pre-requisite to a cohesive and vibrant joint family!
My junior uncle had planned at least three times, in the recent past, to come and spend a day with us but had to give up each time because we're out of station on some pretext or the other. Last week, while we're at Madras, he'd told us about his plans to join us this day on the return leg from his son-in-law's house.
I'd, purposely, avoided telling the both of them about the timing of their visit because they'd have cancelled their plan to avoid 'burdening' us with their combined presence...... Accordingly, the first batch had arrived around 1930h and the second, an hour later. And weren't they taken by surprise, but all the same, enjoyed meeting each other after what had seemed to be a long time!
The house was teeming with people which reminded me of my younger days as part of a joint family system. There used to be fun and gaiety on a continuous basis, ideas seemed to flow without restraint and as children, we'd a huge contingent to play and fight with, making and unmaking 'enemies' in the bargain! All those images, along with an extremely happy mom, made my evening. There was a lot of catching up to do, which was accomplished through the prevalent boisterousness.
And whenever I'm reminded about the good old days of the joint family system, can the nostalgic memories of the 'radio with the magic eye' be far behind? It was the main source of entertainment, come to think of it! The set in my grandparents' house was a 'Murphy', if my memory serves me right, around which the entire family would conglomerate every Saturday for catching up on the sound track of popular Malayalam movies.
Tailpiece.
Why did the joint family system have to break down? I've tried to pin point one singular reason for its downfall. Was it sibling rivalry? Not entirely. To my mind, it's a lack of leadership - the patriarch of impeccable integrity, clear vision, a high sense of fair play and the arbiter of justice without fear or favour is a thing of the past, an essential pre-requisite to a cohesive and vibrant joint family!
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