The chirp and cheer of a joint Indian family, with elders around to guide and advise, may make a comeback in homes if the RSS-launched programme of ‘Kutumb Prabodhan’ is to succeed in cities and villages across India.
“Kutumb Prabodhan” (Family Awakening) involves swayamsewaks approaching a family and getting all its members to sit together with “disturbing” modern gadgets completely switched-off and kept away at a distance.
The modern technology — Internet and mobile — is seen by RSS leaders as a further catalyst to the disruption of ‘a Model Indian familyRs system which has already come under “tremendous pressure” on account of “demands of modern life” and emergence of nuclear families.
‘Kutumb Prabodhan’ programme— a priority task for the RSS — is seeking all members to love their green offshoots (children) as much as roots (elders) of the family tree.
The RSS efforts may not exactly transform Indian families into the kind of bonhomie presented in the films like “Hum Aapke Hain KaunRs of Sooraj Barjatya or ‘Kabhi Khusi Kabhi Gham’ of Karan Johar but may still help mitigate the toxicity generated by the current “me-myself and my family culture” of the big cities.
Families in big cities are the most affected by the breaking up of the joint family system whereas villages are still free from “this negative development of the modern culture”, a senior RSS RsPrant PracharakRs said. The presence of ‘Chaupals’ in villages still provide platform to rural families to come together and discuss issues, the RSS leader pointed out.
He said a home is a lab where kids learn by observing elders and “therefore, Sangh wants to preserve the family system for the next generation” and encourage mutual cooperation and sharing with youngsters “ learning tools for good life”.
RSS leaders are reaching out to families in villages and cities and asking them to spend at least one hour together every week and know about each others. The discussion may involve family issues , childhood memories or comparison of “this generation with the earlier ones and their challenges”.
Under the programme, newly married couples are also being advised on the ways to negotiate the sharp twists and turns of the nuptial road ahead.
The Sangh programme also involves “selected couples” of nearby villages staying as “guests” in each other’s family “and thus, enlarging their family ties”.
In the cities, RSS is asking families to wean away children from internet and mobiles and draw them to “healthy book reading or sports activities” with elders overseeing them.