The present day "Joint family"

My intention in this post is to put down my views on the joint family system for the present day world with a personal example. Family is the smallest social unit, though people opine that families can be broken down into individuals (I disagree). India has a long tradition of joint families with three to four generations of family members living together. Live examples can still be found in Rajasthan where there many joint families with over 300 members each. Joint families have a huge number of advantages. The social support, value sharing, responsibility, mutual respect and resource sharing being the main ones. The support from our family is first and foremost for whatever we do. Mr. Venkatesh, (a notable Indian economist), in one of his lectures, claims that it is the Indian family system which holds Indian economy fairly stable. He also claims that the current resource crunch can be avoided if everyone lives in a family - sharing of resources.

All said, a joint family is what I would love to live in. But how practical is it in the present India?

Joint families are a rarity in Indian cities now for known reasons. "Nuclear family" is the keyword. But the concept of a joint family can be extended to the present day. That is what I would call a "Non-physical" joint family, as could be contrasted with a joint family with everyone physically living together. The abstract notions which bond the family is still there, except that the members are now not together in space.

My own example: Our family is one such well knit unit. Though all of us do not stay together, the entire family is one unit for all purposes. All decisions are taken together. With the current information age, there is no communication barrier. My mother speaks to her sister atleast for an hour each day - There is no barrier at all. We meet very often whenever possible. We celebrate festivals and other occasions together. So it is effectively a single family - but spread out in space, hence my notion of a joint family. It has all the components of a joint family.
The level of support and bonding in my family is best shown by the following incident. I had my B.Tech convocation on 31-01-2009. My entire family was present at my convocation. Two nephews, two mothers (my mother and my big-mother), two sisters, two mamas(uncles - I dont call them uncle!), my father and my brother. My sister's family had come down from Belgaum just for the convocation. This enormous family support can be expected only from a well bonded joint family. Proud to be in a Joint family!

Concluding, joint family system at the least helps us lead a value based life and develop mutual respect, in spite of differences - an absolute necessity in today's world with so many differences. A practical joint family model for the present day might make some positive difference to the world if adopted. Finally, its all in the mind and the heart.

Ajay