Indian Family Tradition Essay

Indian Culture and Family Traditions: Indian Family Structures

In India, family is the most important tradition that has survived throughout the ages, continued forth even though families have immigrated around the world. Immigrating has made our family change our ways in some ways but the core of our traditions remain. In our family history, being part of a joint family plays a significant role. For us it is a system through which all extended family members and 2-3 generations of the family, live together - parents, children, the children’s spouses and their offspring. In our family that is my grandmother, Darshna Devi, followed by my father, Rajesh Aggarwal, spouse Vanita Aggarwal, and us three children, Sahil, Akshita and Navya Aggarwal.

These things are rooted into their background, and they follow it as if it’s part of their religion. We as a family are expected to follow these rules, and traditions because of the influence of the elderly on our family, from the communities around us and especially from our grandmother who is a firm believer in culture and religion. My grandmother expects us to follow these traditions because of her mindset and what she has seen while growing up in the villages. The culture of India and the indians are largely influenced by the family structures seen in villages and small-scale towns, where these traditions are part of their daily life. In villages, the people act like a large family within themselves, and fulfill all responsibilities as would a family. Growing up in this surrounding and moving to Tanzania, has made my grandmother want to protect these traditions more. As my grandmother said, ‘Being in a joint family, is beneficial to all members. Responsibilities and risks are divided and all live in harmony’ In a joint family there is more than one breadwinner, and so there is more income, and less reason to worry about survival. In a large family, you never feel alone and there is always someone taking care of you, and your routine. It is easy for one person to take place of another incase of emergencies. The main advantage according to my grandmother was ‘Knowledge and experiences of the previous generations are passed down and there is a feeling of oneness in the family.’ Another reason for joint family structures comes from the indian people’s strong belief of Karma. Karma means that what is done in the previous life, past and present will decide the pathway for the future and the coming lives, which in result teaches people to treat others how they want to be treated because what goes around comes around. Through this