Chapter 9 — Family and Community

A joint family has several generations living together — grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters and cousins. A nuclear family, on the other hand, is limited to a couple and their children, and sometimes just one parent and children.

In most Indian languages, cousins are considered only 'brothers' and 'sisters', so a separate word was never needed. This reflects the deep bonds among all the children in the family.

The chapter says the family is like a 'school' where children learn important values such as ahimsa, dāna (giving), sevā (service) and tyāga (sacrifice). Doing one's duty, or dharma, is also described as an important principle of Indian culture.

Shalini lives in Kerala with her joint family. When her uncle (Chittappa) lost his job before the Onam festival, Shalini's parents bought new clothes for the whole family, including her uncle, aunt and cousin. Shalini ended up with a simple cotton dress instead of the silk one she expected, but she was happy that everyone could celebrate. Acchamma explained that this is how families support each other and share what they have.

Tenzing's story is from Meghalaya. After his mother joined a local handicraft cooperative, his father took on household chores like cleaning the house, tending the vegetable garden and helping his grandmother cook food. His grandfather helped with homework, took him to the school bus, and was actively involved in community social work.

Halma is a tradition of the Bhil community of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, where community members come together to support any individual or family in times of crisis. Using halma, the Bhils planted thousands of trees across hundreds of villages and dug trenches to conserve rainwater during a severe water crisis. They did this work without pay, as their duty towards their community and the environment.

Kamal Parmar is the owner of a small auto-fabrication workshop in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. More than 20 years ago, he noticed underprivileged children on the street who had dropped out of or never attended school. He started giving them free tuition from 5:30 to 9:30 pm every day after his own work hours, and also provided them a free dinner. Eventually 150 children were regularly attending his classes.

During the Chennai floods of 2015, roads turned to rivers, shops were closed and services were interrupted. Many private groups, especially spiritual and religious organisations, cooked large quantities of food and distributed it to people who needed it, without expecting anything in return.

Residents' Welfare Associations are communities that have emerged in urban areas over the last 30 to 40 years. They make their own rules and regulations about issues such as waste management, cleanliness of common areas and the care of pets, with the people living in the community participating in making those rules.

The chapter says 'community' is a flexible concept. It can mean a group of connected families, a jāti or subdivision of it, a group of people sharing a religion, region, work or interest (such as 'Mumbai's Parsi community' or 'Kerala's scientific community'), or even communities within a school like a sports team, the National Service Scheme, the National Cadet Corps or a drama club.

The chapter explains that no community can function entirely on its own. For example, Residents' Welfare Associations depend on the trading community for supplies and on municipal workers to handle waste. In complex societies, everyone depends on a number of other people and communities.

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