Total Tam-Brahmism

Compared to other countries India is very different in one area – the Family. These social structures are more complex, big and important in this country. However instead of looking at it with awe , the common Indian nowadays sees it as a extraneous distraction or responsibility . How many of the youth of today know to draw their family trees and connect with others ( with pride) ? How many of us have escaped from going for a marriage or any other ceremony just because it was ‘boring’? ie without our staple ‘friends’ . For once , I came outside that category .

the past

For starters , lets look how Families were treated in the past ages. Finally putting my subject ‘sociology’ into use I come to find that families were the fundamental units of a society and still mostly are in many parts of India. Everything was done not to support the ‘individual’ but the whole ‘family. That is how unselfish we were. Then the industrial revolution came about , the families who were before working together in their houses were forced to separate and join big factories where the 'individual' was put in the front  and had to specialize in his task to survive.  ( All this was written by me without looking at my book!! I am a genius! Lol )

The general perception is that Joint families , or atleast connections with some relations like your grandmother’s cousin’s grand daughter is not flourishing. It maybe true . However my sociology book which is keen to prove that common sense and sociology differs states that the life expectancy of the elder population has increased steadily from the time of independence  , ( quotes some stats) and that ‘obviously’ families that contains elders are joint ones and hence joint families are increasing. Sadly, what it doesn’t understand is that life expectancy depends more on health , PDS improvement than type of families people live in! (Although the latter maybe true in some psychopathic homes =P)  So what did that explanation prove? That the textbook was wrong and that I rock =P Also that joint family system is actually DECLINING.

It is a given now that many people living together in the same house is inexplicably impossible . I am not going to try and argue with that as rivaling relatives are more poisonous than  powerful pythons! xD So what this post focuses on is the more agreeable family functions which sees a whole varied no. of relatives come together. I can hear some saying ‘ STFU marriages should be conducted on our wish , standing by the smoke , using huge amounts of money for a get together is insane’ Insane or not marriages and functions are a great part of our culture and believe it or not they  are FUN!!

They may not come near vodka usurping parties with your friends ( chetan Bhagat style) but ironically they are awesome for anyone except the guy who invites all. ( As they have to stand near the smoke and lets say do all the meaningless poojas ; which are atleast meaningful to THEM) If you find yourself considering facebook as a remotely interesting friend finding challenge ; these social events are surely crazier , as you are supposed to be related with these ppl but as you hardly see them once or twice a year you obviously don’t know them . Now try to establish a rapport with all the prejudiced uneventful past meetings off your mind – you would end up telling me that you actually like them!

Becoming a little more specific , I went for my ‘cousin’s’ thread wearing ceremony today. The ceremony itself is considered as a ‘mini marriage’ by all adults and is prolonged for 2 days with the notion of making the boy more responsible and more ideal by making him the ‘proper Brahmin’ boy . LOL. Ironically , I have NEVER met this particular cousin as he had stayed in New Jersey all his life and had just come in for this . How is he exactly my ‘cousin’ , which I must say is a VERY broad word. He is my Grandparents’ cousin’s grandson!! =) I say ‘grandparents’ because both of them have the same person as cousins and are in facts cousins themselves!

( I can surely prepare for my verbal reasoning exam with this! =P )

It didn’t matter that I didn’t know him because he was busy doing his job on the stage with the smoke and his priests. Sadly not one chair was in his direction as people were busy trying to interact with themselves in circles. I almost knew everyone and their names somewhat , however most of their relations with me are still unclear . However what matters is that they treated me with affection , acknowledged our bond  and told that even though birth relations are in many degrees accidental  , are not always catastrophic and a complete waste of time.

People who made this change of heart in me :

My Godfather

His name is Raghava chithappa (uncle) but in fact is my fathers uncle i.e. my grandpa’s bro. What makes him so special is that he is one neurotic bundle of nervous energy and is from the old school of thoughts which is being forced to transform so late in its descent . In short he always worries that I don’t wear a bindi ( a dot on my forehead =| )  and that I don’t know how to sweep a room properly. Truth is he is too CLEAN , hence a perfectionist and a borderline OCD =P I love the fact that he worries about me and so make him worry so much more. Also I like old thathas  with wrinkled face and body! So I obviously adore him and his sarcasm. I bet that when he reads this he would mock my language , yeah OLD SCHOOL.

A BABY! <3

For decades now in cinema of any kind , a dramatic change of heart is brought about by a small innocent kid asking a question or just by being what it ( I mean he/she)  is , a baby! <3  Today saw its fair amount of children who were there because they love to bunk on a Thursday and who wanted some fun. Late in the day (=P ) this absolutely gorgeous kid of my dad’s direct cousin , named SRIPAD stole my heart. The absolutely naughty and adorable  look in the eyes , the soft demeanor which hides the adventurous boy inside , the hardly audible/comprehendible voice ( which is soo sweet <3 ) and the fact that he let everyone carry him made sripad the hero of the day and made me fall in louwe with families.

Btw a message to Nomi here =P I will pronounce ‘love’ as ‘louwe’ and I am NOT a pedophile just because I love babies!! =D

ALSO HIDDEN BENEATH ALL THIS IS THE INNOCUOUS FACT THAT THE ITALIAN MAFIA GIVES FAMILY THE NUMBER 1 PLACE. NEVER HELPS TO BE PREPARED B|