Lets make the World Smaller !

The topic should look very bizarre and stupid to quite a few people given the fact that we seem to be more connected today than ever before or is it really!.People claim we are more connected today than ever before underlining their facts by stating the rise in easier communication(the mobile revolution),the increased role of media,reduced transit time enabled by advances in transportation,the economic dependency underlined by financial crisis.But isnt it that we have become more dependent on them than ever before, we have become more and more segregated with each other than ever before. Though the industrial and technological revolution has made life easier and in effect transitioned the comforts of the west it has also brought with it the burdens the west has been reeling with it,we have become far more unhappier than every before.We spend far less time with each other than ever before.The economic miracle of the last ten years has uplifted a vast majority of the Indians above poverty but has equally made them more disconnected from their immediate family we spend far less time with the family and are as a consequence lead far less happier lives.

The most immediate need is time for introspection,what was that which had made the indians live such happier lives.One good reason i would look at is the rock solid institution of Joint Family.Of course every institution has its own merits and demerits but as per my view the merits of a joint family far outweigh the demerits.The reason led the people for discontinuing the joint family model is the need for greater personal space,a need for mutual respect.But moving to nuclear family signifies the immaturity in failing to reform the age old institution.And it is even more shameful that forall the education we have been inculcated with we have failed to understand and reform the model.

The joint family model was an umbrella model which has a single top most authority with authority delegates to individuals.Usually the oldest male in the family was the unanimous authority on families decisions.Slowly we moved to a more trimmed up model of joint family which enabled lesser delegation and enable more say for individuals in their family decisions.Today we have totally segregated families.The Joint family had always acted as a buffer helping people of the family to share their difficulties and gave them the emotional support which he/she needed.The problems of an individual were looked at as problems of the family and were taken as responsibility of the family.This significantly offloaded the mental worries an individual had to go through.People from a joint family are more adept at handling and interacting with people than the ones from the nuclear family.Joint Family also helps in more efficient use of resources and there by a more robust economy which is further underlined by the resilience of Indian economy which has sustained continued erosion in the economy of the country caused by corruption,foreign invasions etc and even the current financial crisis.Because even if a person in family looses his job he will have the support of his family unlike that of the western counterparts

What we need is a Joint family model which has a more horizontal model of authority ie everyone has mutual respect for each others views and greater personal space rather than the nuclear model we seem to be so fond of and which has proved its failure time and again.So isn't it time we reform this Age old institution called Joint Family ?