Last updated: September 13, 2024
Today I’m learning about Indian family values from these two smart single women in Bangalore.
They’re best friends from school days.
They both live with their parents and wouldn’t have it any other way.
I ask them a question.
“What is something interesting about life in India that I can tell my friends back home in America?”
They think for a bit about the food, the traffic, the movies, the tech scene.
They ask what do I know about family life here?
I say that I don’t know much and I’d like to learn.
Their eyes go wide and they smile and they tell me about their own families.
Over-protective parents who still get worried if they come home late.
Aunts and uncles that have input on many decisions.
And grandparents who still mother their 50 year-old children.
They tell me about large gangs of cousins who do things together and make family events more fun.
And how even middle class people have nurses to help them sleep through the night with new babies.
They talk about feeling like kids still as adults and how nice that is.
To be mothered and loved and act silly and supported.
I write down the word “beautiful” in my notebook.
It feels beautiful and pure and like something from a time past.
I come from a Western world of nuclear families.
I love my parents and my sister but they live far away.
I’m not too close with my extended family.
Sometimes I even forget my cousin’s names as I only see them every 5 years.
That is crazy talk here where they live and party and play together as family.
Now this story doesn’t apply to all 1.6 billion people in India as each family is different.
Some families here have hard times and bad relationships and move away like anywhere else.
But these woman are happy and proud of a family dynamic that seems foreign to me.
“Life is so full with our family here,” they tell me.
It is a land of family values.
THE END
Hi from Nick! Originally published on Twitter / X. I’ve been doing these interviews with people like this one and posting them on my Instagram and Twitter / X. This is part of my series of Profiles on people and interesting experiences. See more in the category.