family affairs

its strange how people can change sometimes.i was sifting through all my old magazines today and as usual,instead of throwing them away,i started reading them all over again.
there was a debate raging for quite some time then over whether the RD should indianize itself more or should remain a predominantly foreign magazine.the editors had made it pretty clear that though RD India would rely heavily on foreign materials,the context and the choice of articles published would be done,keeping in mind the indian diaspora...
And it was becuase of this that the article which was on the adjoining page startled me more...
an article about "how to handle your family and your relatives when you spend a holiday together as a family."
it was not so much the article,but the suggestions encorporated within it,that made me squirm...the author spoke about embarrasing times in front of the whole family,about green eyed monsters who always tried to put you down and your own mum,when she became too judgemental or emotional.the author put each sitaution down as a potential disaster and provided remedies or plausible solutions for each of them.

And i marvelled.i marvelled because we have grown so modern and "shining" that we now require magazine articles to deal with family.we now require a specialist to tell us not to get disheartened with our mothers or not to give up on our fathers.we now have therapists to tell that our family loves us at the end of the day and that it will always be our pillar of support....we just don't know that anymore!!

the article started with the question-"do you ever dread your family holidays because of that embarrasing uncle sam or that spiteful aunt mabel.......?"
the honest answer,sans the indian culture nonsense,would be yes...
but does that mean we now require magazine articles to decipher that our mothers love us no matter what..or that we can always turn to our family for support...?

the article was engrossing and very well written...i guess that was part of its charm.however,the final solution proposed by the author to all the realtionship blues was a striking one....
"remember that this holiday is only for a few days and you are going to return to your own normal life soon...."
that made family outings sound like common cold...didn't it?i mean,you can't get rid of it and its going to go away in a few days!!

maybe that is what families have become to us...detached old appendages.things that we wish to shed in our conquest of modernity.and what was great(!) was the fact that apparantly,the editors had thought the article suited indian contexts.maybe indians do need to start behaving with their families.maybe they need family therapy to teach them how to spend a holiday!
and all this in a country where we cry ourselves hoarse over traditional indian family values!

maybe i fight a lot with my mum...and i hate some of my relatives...but you know what?i would rather choose a messy but genuinely warm holiday with my family instead of a superby performed stage show!