Forget about the joint families in television entertainment serials in India. Why they have such a hold on the Indian psyche is a wonder.
However, one joint family is coming into shape in modern England because of current economic pressures! Sounds implausible?
Well, that is the plot of Elizabeth Buchan's Separate beds - a novel in 2010.
Husband has devoted his life to BBC corp. Wife is a senior level hospital administrator. They have three children: twins - a daughter and son and again a daughter who considers herself neglected by everybody.
Husband loses his job. Son's marriage ends and he comes back home with his daughter as his earning capacity is limited. His twin sister abandoned her family five years ago because its conservatism stifles her. Husband finds that his mother's investments which kept her in an old age home have shrunk in value and she must be brought home.
Thus three generations of a family are together. Upheaval follows. Money is tight but the youngest daughter who wants to be a novelist gets a job and slowly these people get adjusted to one another. The novel ends when the elder daughter returns home, defeated. Her high ideals have vanished. More importantly, her boy friend has vanished and she is forced to make do with poverty.
Fascinating! One gets drawn into this family saga which becomes very sloppy at places but is still absorbing.
However, one joint family is coming into shape in modern England because of current economic pressures! Sounds implausible?
Well, that is the plot of Elizabeth Buchan's Separate beds - a novel in 2010.
Husband has devoted his life to BBC corp. Wife is a senior level hospital administrator. They have three children: twins - a daughter and son and again a daughter who considers herself neglected by everybody.
Husband loses his job. Son's marriage ends and he comes back home with his daughter as his earning capacity is limited. His twin sister abandoned her family five years ago because its conservatism stifles her. Husband finds that his mother's investments which kept her in an old age home have shrunk in value and she must be brought home.
Thus three generations of a family are together. Upheaval follows. Money is tight but the youngest daughter who wants to be a novelist gets a job and slowly these people get adjusted to one another. The novel ends when the elder daughter returns home, defeated. Her high ideals have vanished. More importantly, her boy friend has vanished and she is forced to make do with poverty.
Fascinating! One gets drawn into this family saga which becomes very sloppy at places but is still absorbing.
