Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Old ties, new strains
|
Gitanjali Prasad's work looks at the pressures on the middle-class family
|
PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF
NEW RESPONSIBILITIES The book also focuses on the changing roles of women
Family is one of the most debated issues anywhere in the world — as hotly in the U.S. Senate as it is on the old benches in Lalbagh where retired men meet after their morning walk. That's perhaps why it is so difficult to write anything about it without sounding either completely clichéd and moralistic or downright blasphemous.
Yet, journalist-researcher Gitanjali Prasad makes the brave effort to take a fresh look at this institution in The Great Indian Family, New roles, New Responsibilities (Penguin, Rs. 295), launched last week at Oxford Bookstore. The launch was followed by a session in which Gitanjali answered and debated questions posed by a panel of three — Rohini Nilekani of Akshara Foundation, journalist-author Aditi De and Deirdre O' Reilly of Air Deccan.
Answering a question by Aditi on why she had restricted focus to the urban, middle-class family, Gitanjali spoke of the impossibility of putting into one framework the "different realities" of our subcontinent where "different centuries coexist." Though more funding was available to study the poor, she chose to study people "for whom money is not a problem, but who nevertheless have problems."
Many sources
The book draws from interviews of a wide spectrum of people (from CEOs of companies to disgruntled homemakers), historical sources, earlier works of research and so on to look at the new face of the urban middle class. Relying on the journalistic mode of collecting empirical data and presenting them in a "balanced" perspective, Gitanjali addresses many debates — dual careers, problems of child-rearing, pressures on women, new roles of fathers, the conflict between old stereotypes and new work pressures, single-child phenomenon, the question of elder care...
Perhaps weighed down by the sheer range of issues that come into play, the author skims over some of them and resolves some others by simply repeating established commonsensical notions without any ambition of new insights. Gitanjali herself modestly admits in her introduction: "This is not a scholarly treatise but a popular book, the account of an informed journalist. I see it as the beginning but not the end of a debate on family." But it should be said to the book's credit that it steers clear of one trap that any debate on family tends to fall into — of assuming that there were "good old days" when family was the perfect space. For instance, it does address questions of patriarchal structures and the new pressures on women whether they choose to stay home or go out to work.
At the launch of the book, Gitanjali emphasised that the book was "women friendly" even as it pleased Indian men with its reluctance for "male bashing." She did not want to be part of the blame game where men, women and the younger generation are by turns held responsible for the "deterioration" of the family. She said she was keener on looking at factors that affect the family profoundly from outside this structure.
In fact, the most interesting parts of the book look at one aspect usually not focused on while talking about family — the new work culture. Establishing a link between the new system of contractual, hire-and-fire employment, the insecurities it brings and the dynamics within a family, she writes: "The most pressing challenge to the urban middle-class family appears to be the new work culture with its increasing demand on people's time and energy."
Workplace as family
She brings into focus interesting data from across the world into this debate. "While much of Europe is protected by a legislation that stipulates work hours, the situation is completely different in the U.S. and in most of Asia, with hours and intensity of work getting more hectic." This creates a situation where the workplace also becomes "your community and increasingly your family".
In the course of the discussion, Rohini Nilekani said she had overheard a conversation on a futuristic-looking software company campus in Mysore where a girl was insistent on posting a rakhi that very day to ensure it reaches her brother on time for Raksha Bandhan. It was an incident that reassured her that the Indian family was doing pretty well.
But Gitanjali's own finds might persuade us to think differently. When she asked an executive in the course of one of her interviews if his company allows him a work-life balance, he said: "Of course, organisations make it a point to celebrate employees' birthdays etc. at the office, and since employees spend about 14 hours a day at the workplace, what could be better than celebrating the special days of your life with those who are your nearest and dearest?" But what are its implications in an atmosphere where someone can be fired the moment he is deemed unnecessary for the company, asks Geetanjali. "In one swift brutal blow you lose not only your job, but also your family and your friends."
We have indeed come a long way from the early days of Labour Movement when the slogan went: Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what we will. Gitanjali writes: "Though family-friendly is the catchphrase of our times, very few organisations are aware of how family-unfriendly they really are."
That was something to think about on Raksha Bandhan, the day on which the book was, incidentally, released.
BAGESHREE S.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
