Importance Of Being Together

We human beings have a tendency to take everything as for granted. We love our mother but whatever our mother does for us, we take it as a normal duty and never appreciate her. Not only in the case of mother, but also whenever we get anything without any effort we forget to worth it. Today, I'm going to share a story that had shaken me & made me realize how much ungrateful we are.

It was the month of November of the year 2014. I went to visit Rajasthan with my family. The weather was very calm at that time, neither too hot nor too cold. So, we were greatly enjoying our trip amongst the forts and palaces of the great Rajputana ancestry. It was a wonderful experience indeed. However, on a sunny day we went to visit Dilwara temple at Mt.Abu. And honestly speaking, after going there I really wondered that if the Tajmahal Agra has been placed among the seven wonders of the world then why this amazing temple of marble work has been neglected!!!!

When I was plunged into my own thoughts, suddenly I heard a voice reflecting my thoughts. I was startled and obviously I looked back. There I found two Japanese women were standing. Ofcourse, on the first look I couldn't identify from they belonged. I only predicted that they must be from the Mangolian province. However, naturally I was attracted to them because our wave length just had matched together. So I went to them and began my conversation in English. But to my great astonishment, I found that those two foreigners were trying to speak in Hindi. Although, their voice was broken but they were trying there best. I really wondered that where the Indians now have began to adopt the foreign tongue to enhance their status, there two Japanese women are trying to converse in our tongue!!!!

But this was actually nothing. Another great surprise was waiting for me. From the conversation I came to know these ladies were colleges, they had come out to explore the neighbouring countries together. Then they asked me about my partner in this trip. So, I answered that I had come with my parents, grand parents, my sister & brother-in-law with their family. But as soon as I completed the list, I could clearly saw their astonishment. I asked them, "What happened?"

They re-questioned me, "You people just met for this tour?"

At first, I couldn't understand about what they were taking about, but within few minutes I could realize what they wanted to know, so I answered, "No no. We live together?"

"What????" It seemed that my answer left them open mouthed.

"What what?"

"You people live together? Together under a roof?"

"Yeah."

"Strange!!! Don't your neighbors laugh at you?"

"Why should they do such?"

"Umm… you live together like this…"

I smiled and answered, "It's our culture aunty. We all live together with our family. In fact, those who abandoned their parents are hated by the society."

"Oh my God!!! We can never imagine it in our country!"

One of the ladies suddenly hold my hands and asked in a heavy voice that, "I'm very very happy to see you. You know what when I was a little girl, I wished to travel the world with my parents, but my father had not much income to take us for a long tour. So gradually I have grown up, and the childhood dream of mine shattered like this. Now I generally come out with my friends. And you know what, we have to live separate from our parents when we become adult. So, today I am very happy to see this system, it makes me to rekindle the memories of my childhood. The sweet memories…"

 Then that day the lady bought chocolate for each of us. When the time of departure arrived, one of the ladies asked in my ears, "Don't change ever. Always try to be together."

The last few words of the lady really shook me. I felt that we, the Indians have been living in this joint family system for years and now we are turning back to the fashion of nuclear family. But we never realized that how much difficult & sorrowful life is of those people who never got the opportunity of living in a family. We, Indians always have taken this tradition of India for granted, and we never thanked the nation for such wonderful tradition which makes us enable to interact with the society & the larger world as well. Family teaches us values of mutual understanding & mutual reliability. 

 That moment, suddenly, after 23 years of life, I felt another kind of pride in my country, that my country may not be very much developed in technologies, but our country is rich in its values and tradition. And no one can beat us in this. 

So, as a representative of the new generation I feel that we should take the vow that even after the emergence of modernity in the country, we must not forget our tradition.