Originally posted by: *KT*~Lakshya*
My family in India lives like this. The house consists on my Grandparents, their 2 sons and my dad who moved to the uk. They first lived as a proper joint family but then problems started to rise so they decided to still live under one roof but separate the house for the two families. So now they earn their own money, eat at their own dining tables and occupy the rooms on their side of the house.
So when we go to visit them we just get them to empty the best rooms for us lol. In this show every sunday they eat together likewise whenever we go to visit them, they all get together.
I doubt my grandparents are happy with the idea but they have to understand that everyone needed their independence and freedom. This was the only way to keep the peace in our family.
I have been living in a joint family all my life. We always had different kitchens.
Basically, in today's world having a single kitchen where members are too many is hardly possible. Kitchen these days are not that large . You need a gas connection and you definitely don't get multiple gas connections on the same address. You do get gas cylinders they too run out in a week or so.
Besides, serving each member with care and mostly those with health issues is not possible for obvious reasons.
Managing the budget becomes another issue. Smaller kitchen doesn't require much expertise but when a kitchen runs on collective monetary support, each family expects the kitchen to run on its terms which obviously leads to severe conflicts.
Most importantly, whether one like it or not Kitchens are still a handiwork of women alone. With more women joining the work force, who exactly is suppose to run these extra large kitchens ?
Separate kitchens but one large family is infact more practical approach. Indian soaps has a queer habit of establishing the importance of joint families . Fair enough, but do they realise the nuclear family is not really a choice but a need in today's world ? Nuclear families are not evil after all.
Edited by dey.bh - 10 years ago