Family is an important aspect of everybody’s lives and it forms an integral part of a person’s contribution to the society. Family nurtures values and builds up strength, love and trust among people.
In the olden days, large, joint families were part of every household and families stayed in close – knit units, which taught them values of caring and sharing and living happily together.
With the dawn of modernization, this concept of large family made way to smaller units and that is what we see today in urban set ups – the nuclear family.
This small unit of family, in most cases, has the father, mother and their children, living together under one roof.
The rest of the members who were part of the greater family in olden times – the elder parents and siblings now come under a different basket, which we call the extended family.
This extended family visits the nuclear family whenever time permits them to do so, during the weekends or during special family gatherings/ festival celebrations etc.
A part of this extended family consists of few uncles and aunts, grandpa, grandma and any other member of the family.
My uncle and aunt are staying in New Delhi after their marriage since my uncle works at a nationalized bank there and they had to move in, owing to my uncle’s transferrable job.
Before they moved in to Delhi, they used to stay with us at Bangalore, where we live together with our parents and grandparents.
My uncle’s children, a daughter who is 10 years old and a son who is 6 years old are studying in an international school at Delhi. My aunt works as a teacher at a reputed school there and manages the house as well.
Uncle and Aunt’s connection with our family
My uncle and aunt are very close to their parents and stay in touch with them over phone calls, text messages and e-mails.
My parents connect with them when they are free in the weekends and so do we. We chat with their children, who are our cousins regularly by interacting over Skype.
Since my uncle is the youngest son of my grandparents, they love and care for him very much.
Our regular interactions involve talking about the weather conditions there, new places they visited, new things they bought, what went right and what was not through the week that passed by, kids’ educational progress and a host of other topics as well.
Advances in science and technology have brought down distances and made us feel closer at home, when we sometimes chat live with them.
Our grandparents are extremely proud of their young son and daughter-in-law and appreciate my aunt’s efforts in balancing both her career as well as taking care of the family very well.
My uncle is a very understanding and supportive husband to my aunt and co-operates with her in all her efforts.
My uncle starts his day with walking and exercising early in the morning, followed by having breakfast and starts for his office.
At office, he is the senior manager at the bank and he treats all his co-workers and colleagues with great respect.
He carries out his duties and responsibilities with utmost sincerity and dedication.
He has achieved laurels and appreciation from the bank management and has scaled to the position that he is today with a lot of hard work and perseverance.
Achieving Work – Life Balance
My aunt is a school teacher handling subjects of science and mathematics for high school students.
She is favorite among her students and the school staff all praises about her, as she believes in quality and standard educational value systems.
She disbelieves in the rote system of teaching and makes learning fun by preparing her own charts and models to bring in good interaction among students.
She encourages students to actively ask questions in class and gives equal importance to co-curricular learning as well.
She considers sports and games essential for a student’s overall development and encourages them to take part in inter school competitions and tournaments.
Role Models to my Cousins
My uncle and aunt play role models to my cousins. They help them in their everyday tasks, starting from the time they wake up till the time they finish their studies and go to bed.
My uncle has enrolled his daughter at the tennis academy since she was fond of the game since she was a toddler.
His son enjoys a game of chess and has been an active student member at the chess academy.
Education is the stepping stone to a person’s success and this fact is underlined by my uncle and aunt who attribute their success to good education provided by their parents.
My aunt creates a very friendly and healthy atmosphere at home by encouraging her children to engage themselves in keeping things clean and tidy, organizing the interiors of the house and placing everything in order.
She works at school from 9 AM to 3 PM and as soon as she returns from work, she makes sure to keep the house clean and in order.
She prepares healthy and nutritious snacks for her children once they are back from their school.
At evenings, she spends ample time with the children and helps them in their assignments and daily studies.
Once my uncle returns from work, she makes him a cup of tea and they spend quality time with each other by enjoying family shows on television.
My uncle makes sure to keep track of my cousins’ studies by discussing the same with my aunt.
Spirituality and weekend recreational activities
Prayer plays an important part of their everyday lives and they spend quality time by chanting songs in praise of lord and visit temples on all important family occasions and festival days.
My cousins have also imbibed the same quality from their parents and seek God’s blessings every morning and also before going to bed.
They spend their weekends in cleaning and tidying their house and surroundings, decorating their little home into a beautiful place to live in, shopping for essentials and visiting new places of interest.
They spend quality time outdoors by engaging in sport activities with their children, either playing badminton or lawn tennis.
Travelling to new, unseen places is a big favorite passion of both my uncle and aunt and they explore heritage sites and hill stations during their summer and winter vacations.
Along with their yearly picnic, they never fail to visit us by coming down to their hometown Bangalore.
When they are here, my grandma prepares their special dishes and they get lots of surprise gifts for all of us.
Our cousins come with us and we enjoy ourselves by visiting local exhibitions and play with them in parks.
The elders arrange a get together and a family outing to bridge the connections between the elder and the younger generations.
Harmony with the community
My uncle and aunt also take part in community celebrations with their neighbors in Delhi.
Creating cultural awareness among their children is one of their top priorities and they leave no stone unturned to bring about this awakening.
My cousins are encouraged to participate in every type of competition and extracurricular activity hosted by their school or otherwise and this enables them to build strong competitive spirit and positive thinking in them.
My aunt and uncle are very focused on their children’s future and create open paths of career choices for them.
Till date, they have never enforced good behavior in their children, instead allow them to see and learn themselves by creating such a holistic ambience at their home.
They never compare my cousins to other children and always try to bring out the best qualities in them.
They understand the growing competition among children of today and strive hard to make them future ready by regularly discussing their school performance with their concerned class teachers.
Imbibing humility and respect for elders in their children comes naturally to them as they themselves are very down to earth and seek goodness in whatever they do.
A great inspiration for our entire family
My uncle and aunt are a great inspiration to our whole family. In spite of living independently, away from their hometown, they have managed to set foot and spread their wings on their own.
They have achieved success, both professionally and in their personal lives and strive hard to help their children in realizing their dreams.
They love my grandparents very much and care for them with utmost affection and compassion.
They are favorite among our relatives and everybody has a word of appreciation for them, which they truly deserve in many ways.
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