Report on Family Life 1st Generation Interviewees:
Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey (age 69 years)
Mr. Ashok Joshi (age 69 years)
Mrs. Meena Sheth (age 66 years)
2nd Generation Interviewees:
Ms. Rupali Shrivastav (age 34 years)
Mr. Harsh Geetey (age 30 years)
Mr. Chetan Saraf (age 45 years)
Q1. Give a short description of your family when you were a teenager.
How many people were there in your parent’s family?
1st Generation’s response: Mr. Ashok Joshi: 9 Mrs. Meena Sheth: 9 2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: 9 to 10 people
How many people lived in the same house?
1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: 5 Mr. Ashok Joshi: 9 Mrs. Meena Sheth: 9
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: 4 Mr. Harsh Geetey: 4 Mr. Chetan Saraf: 6 (lived with grandparents)
What was the profession of your mother & father?
1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: Father was a deputy collector Mr. Ashok Joshi: Father was in railway service & mother was a homemaker Mrs. Meena Sheth: Father was in railway service & mother was a homemaker
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: Father worked in transport & mother also working Mr. Harsh Geetey: Father was a school teacher & mother was an assistant manager Mr. Chetan Saraf: Grandfather was retired railway officer, grandmother was homemaker, uncle was businessman & aunt used to assist him.
Where did you live with your family?
1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: Nagpur Mr. Ashok Joshi: Mukund Niwas in Kalyan East Mrs. Meena Sheth: Kalyan East, Thane district
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: several places in India Mr. Harsh Geetey: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Mr. Chetan Saraf: Kalyan
Q2. Do you remember any historical fact when you were a teenager? 1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: In 1965, when 15 years old, war between India & Pakistan and India won. Victory impressed him a lot & made him proud. In 1962, last war with China & India won.
Mr. Ashok Joshi: In 1965, Indo-Pak war and subsequent death of PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966 in Tashken.
Mrs. Meena Sheth: When she was 12 or 13 years. Indo-China war was fought. In school they were taught how to protect themselves in case of a bombing. India finally won which impressed her.
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: When I was 12, impressed with scenic beauty of Kanyakumari & statue of Vivekanand which is built at meeting point of Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal & Indian Ocean.
Mr. Harsh Geetey: When he was 12, on 9/11, a plane was hijacked & crashed in the WTC in US. World got to know how terrorism can affect everyone & many countries then started having counter terrorism acts.
Mr. Chetan Saraf: Remembers 6 incidents. 3 in India & 3 internationally. Indian ones were demolition of Babri masjid in 1992, mandal commission agitation in 1989 and Mumbai bomb blast and riots. International events were Gulf war, collapse of Soviet Union which led to end of Cold war & fall of Berlin wall that led to unification of Germany.
Q3. What according to you are the key factors for a happy family? 1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: All family members should respect each other, obey & take care of parents and try to understand limitations of the family, to adjust within limited resources available in family.
Mr. Ashok Joshi: Love & care
Mrs. Meena Sheth: Good physical & mental health of family members, good education, good habits & moral values, respecting elders, love among siblings.
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: love & respect for each other, spending quality time with each other & a little money
Mr. Harsh Geetey: enjoy each & every moment of the day happily, such as saying good morning & good night to family members. Appreciate all small moments & not just the big ones.
Mr. Chetan Saraf: Sharing quality time with each other.
Q4. What according to you is the significance of family in India?
1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: Because they were mostly joint families, means grandparents, parents, children help each other and these moral values practiced in the family help build a strong nation.
Mr. Ashok Joshi: Mutual respect, love & care are the main significance of an Indian family.
Mrs. Meena Sheth: 3 generations lived together. Family is most important institution that influences a child’s life. It helps positive growth & development of children. They learn importance of sharing & caring.
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: Family is the best teacher in life. They provide support to overcome challenges & move forward with positive attitude, builds our conscience to a great extent and helps differentiation between good & bad.
Mr. Harsh Geetey: Whole family helps in planning an arranged marriage.
Mr. Chetan Saraf: Family is basic unit of society that provides an individual with all social, economic & mental support.
Q5. What according to you is the definition of family? 1st Generation’s response: Mr. Kranti Kumar Geetey: Family is everything and is a sense of belonging. All members are concerned about each other and provides shelter and social status.
Mr. Ashok Joshi: Family is where 3 attributes – respect, love and care co-exist.
Mrs. Meena Sheth: Family is a primary social institution where all members of a family having blood relation live together & share each other’s joys & sorrows. Even if there are conflicts, in the end they reach out to help one another.
2nd Generation’s response: Ms. Rupali Shrivastav: Family is the greatest gift from God to us; a strong support system where you get unconditional & never ending love and warmth.
Mr. Harsh Geetey: No fixed definition for family. Family for me is everyone - my immediate family members, close friends, cousins ,neighbours .
Mr. Chetan Saraf: Family is a social group of parents & their children.
Summary
From the above responses, the following trends can be seen – - The 1st Generation had a considerably larger number of family members living together in the same house when compared with the 2nd Generation who mostly lived in nuclear families. - The mothers of the 2nd Generation in most cases are working while the mothers of the 1st Generation were mostly homemakers. -The 1st Generation primarily recalled the Indo-Pak & Indo-China wars that were going on during their teenage years while the 2nd Generation recalled other international and national events.