The tradition of Parenting in Hindu family is amazing. The family bonding is unique, rarely seen in few communities. This family bonding culture has been followed religiously and sincerely since ages. Probably this bonding and this practice has kept the culture and traditions of Hindu families alive in today’s world. When a child is born in a family, the parents are the happiest in the society. The parents express their happiness and feelings in a big way to the society in organising banquets and parties. The parents invite few of their relatives and close members in the society to the Banquets and parties. The parents then raise their children with utmost care, affection and love. The raising of the children is seen as the most difficult assignment in the life of a parent. Parents try to inculcate the good social and family values in their children. In course of time, the children grow and become self-dependent with their earnings after which few migrate to different and distant places. Few children stay with the parents as they too take up their earnings in the locality. The cloak of the life cycle moves steadily. The Joint family system has many cultural and financial arrangements within the members which solves many aspects of health challenges in day to day life.
The nuclear family system emerging out of the joint family system raised few issues in sharing cultural values among the family members. The closeness in family bonding among the members started to disintegrate gradually as the nuclear family system started consolidating. In other words, one can say that the families became self-centred in all its approaches.
The visit frequency of the children to their parents/hometown who live in distant place gradually reduced as the children got married and stayed occupied in their own professions. The Children staying with the parents too, got occupied with their own professions for earnings in life. Such developments in children’s families and their activities diluted the affinity of love & affectiontowards their parents too. The Parents kept talking to their children and kept enquiring about the health and well beings of their grown up children frequently.
But the grown up children reciprocated the same way in very few occasions. The reverse enquiry of love & affection and assistance for their old parents are less than minimum. It is observed in few cases that only few children show the reverse affection and love for their old & aged parents. When it comes to serving the old, aged and orthopedically invalid parents, the real challenge emerges. Nobody wants to serve them personally and take personal care of their old parents. Someone keeps the old & invalid parents in old age home, leaving it on the mercy of the care taker.The absence of the own people in taking care makes the old parents depressed and half dead. Day by day the parents’ health conditions grow feebler and weaker. Accidentally, if one partner of the old couple passes away, the conditions of the other becomes terribly wrong & life becomes hell. The single partner feels unsecured and helpless. Each passing day makes the life miserable for the old one. The patience of the sons and daughters are tested each day towards the service of their parents. In fact, the physical and the medical assistance become the mandatory requirements of each day’s life and round the clock.
It becomes an unusual and unnatural reciprocation of love and care, if the son / the daughter/daughter in law or any own relative takes up the job of taking care of the old invalid parents with dedication and sincerity. But such cases are rare and countable in present society. Such persons are adorable and an example to the humanity. More ever such dedicated and sincere services to the aged elders are generally found the rural areas or in the small cities. I wish that the society to take inspiration from such noble activities and services which are Godly towards the Humanity. They can be compared with the mythological character Shravan Kumar. May our Human values be restored for a better Humanity.
- Dr Jagat Mangaraj
