An Interview With a Junior at Alcorn State University - Essay Example

Family Interview Q. What is your name? R. Sunil Subramaniam. Q. What are you currently doing? R. I am a junior at Alcorn State University. Q. Are you a native of America? R. No. I am an Indian. Q. Are you married? R. No. I am nineteen years old, but pressure from my family will build to get married, once I reach twenty one. Q. Is your family in America? R. No. They are in India. Q. Will you kindly provide details of your family? R. The concept of family is quite different from family life in America. Besides Myself, my parents have a younger daughter. In earlier times having large families was the norm in India, but this has gradually changed to small family units. I used to live in the ancestral family house along with my grand parents. My father is the youngest son of his family, and in India it is the responsibility of the youngest son to take care of his parents. When my uncles and aunts come visiting their home town or for family occasions, all of them stay at the ancestral house, and it is one huge family gathering. My father looks after the day to day affairs of the house, but it is the decision of my grandfather that stands not just in my family, but in the family affairs of all his sons. My mother is responsible for all the domestic chores. My grandmother does have her say in these matters from time to time, but is more interested in spending her time reading religious books, or attending religious functions. Q. So what you are saying is that your grandfather continues to head his family even though all his sons are no longer with him? R. Yes and so will it be with my father, when his turn comes, but I expect the changing times to erode some of his authority. Q. Who is responsible for the family values? R. The family values are inculcated by all the elders of the family. However my father and grandfather are more involved in this with me, than with my sister, while my mother and grandmother concentrate on my sister. Q. Who is responsible for religious values? I belong to the priestly class in the traditional Indian society. Here I need to point out something that may be unique to India. The Indian society for a couple of thousand years has been divided into a caste based society. The caste divisions were based on the functional activity performed by the individual for society. Once born to a particular caste or sub-caste, the individual remains a member of the caste, irrespective of the economic status. Being a member of the priestly class there is the requirement that I learn the chanting of prayers for various Hindu rituals and this was taught to me by my father and grand father. Other aspects of religion have been put into me by my mother and grandmother, who read various religious texts to me in my younger days, and gave me their interpretations. Q. Who is responsible for discipline in the family? R. My grandfather is the ultimate authority in discipline, while it is my father who is responsible for enforcing the discipline. My grandfather is like the officer in a small military unit, giving out the orders, while my father is like the sergeant ensuring that it is adhered to. Q. How are children cared for in your family? Are the responsibilities shared? R. The women folk are responsible for caring of the children entirely. The male members of the family do not share in this responsibility. I have heard from my father that my father carried me for the first time, when I was three months old. Till then he would only come and look at me approvingly. Q. Are your parents and grandparents employed? Who is the main bread winner in the family? R. My grand father is a retired government official and gets a small pension. My father is employed in a nationalized bank, and is the bread winner of the family. However he hands over most of his salary to my grandfather, who uses it for the running of the family unit. My grandmother was always a housewife, and so is the case with my mother. Traditionally the responsibility of bringing home the bread has been that of the male members, while the women folk are responsible for the house hold chores. However, I wonder if in these changing times my sister will accepts this traditional division of responsibilities in a family unit. Q. Your family must be economically well off to be able to afford paying for your education in America? R. Far from true. I belong to an average Indian middle class family. My family is not paying for my education. I have been able to come across for my education here, as I am a recipient of a full scholarship to play tennis for my college. Q. How important is the education of the children to your family? R. To my family education of the male members is important, as they require to have satisfactory career prospects. In the case of the women members of the family, education is not an important aspect, as they are get married, when they are young, and are only responsible for domestic affairs. Q. You had mentioned pressure from family for marriage, when you are twenty one. Does that not mean that male members also get married early? R. Yes. Girls are usually married off between the ages of eighteen and twenty one. In the case of males the age for marriage is considered from twenty one onwards, as this gives sufficient time for a decent education, and the subsequent finding of a job. In any case I don’t think I will be allowed to remain single after twenty five. Q. Does this mean that your family considers marriage an important aspect of life? R. Yes. Q. What happens if you find someone that you like here, and decide to get married here? R. You are virtually asking me to consider the impossible. The main objection to my coming here was this likelihood. I had to give firm commitments that this would not happen, before I was allowed to come. Foreign cultures are considered inferior to our culture, and are hence tolerated but not considered suitable for marriage considerations. Marriages in India occur between the same caste and same social status. Q. Does this mean that for you the considerations of your family are important in the decision of your marriage partner? R. Very much so. In earlier times marriage partners were decided among the parents, and the bride and groom got to see each other for the first time at the tome of their marriage. That is how my father and mother got married. At least now I will get to see my prospective partner for life before I get married, and be given an opportunity to express my approval or not. Q. Thank you for your valued time and interesting responses. R. You are welcome. Comparison of Families Introduction: I hail from a Hispanic family background, and the comparison attempted is between Hispanic family life and Indian family life, based on my personal experiences, and the information received from this interview. Comparison: The similarities stand out as there is lot in common between Hispanic family life and Indian family life. In both cases family bonding is strong, but seems to be even stronger in the case of Indian family life, with extended families more the rule than the exception. In the Hispanic way of life the grandfather is more a symbolic figurehead, whereas in the Indian family life the grandfather continues to hold a dominant position. A further similarity is in the roles played by the male and female members of a family unit. Just as in the case of the Indian family unit, in the Hispanic family unit it is the male members that are responsible for earning a livelihood. However in the Hispanic family unit this demarcation is not so rigid and the female members also often contribute to the earning of the livelihood. Irrespective of where the livelihood comes from, in the Hispanic family unit, it is the father that is the deciding authority, and the repository of family values, just as in the case of the Indian family unit. The role of women in the Hispanic family unit is similar to that of the Indian family unit. They are solely responsible for the domestic chores, caring of the children, and the inculcating of religious knowledge in the children, with the male members responsible for the discipline of the children, as they grow older. Family attitude to education in the Hispanic family unit is another similarity with the Indian family. The male members are given the priority for education. There is a slight difference here in that female members are not discouraged from education, and if resources are available female members of a family unit are also allowed to further their education. The main differences between the Hispanic family units and the Indian family units is in the caste influence on class levels in society, marriage decisions, and attitude to foreigners. In Hispanic society family units are mobile between classes, and this mobility is based on the economic status of the family unit, and not caste. The caste system is absent in Hispanic society. In the case of marriages there is hardly any family influence on the choosing of the partner in the Hispanic family unit, unlike in the Indian family unity, where parental decision is final. If there is any parental influence on marriage decisions, it is the attempt to influence the decision, so that a partner of equal or higher economic status is found. The Indian family unit has a limited acceptance of foreigners, and it may be a reflection of the influence of religion and culture. With economical aspects being the basis of Hispanic society, there is greater appreciation of foreigners, though their habits and way of life remain a source of amusement. Read More