Sunday, 7 October 2012

mothers-in-law

The equations between generations has changed a lot in a short while. For hundreds of years, households ran with a powerful patriarch or in some cases matriarch.
In any case, the matriarch ruled the women of the household.  A man marries a woman and sort of hands her over to his mother, for her to command. This has been the custom for hundreds of years.
But I see amongst my friends, things are different now.
The older women of today are in a cusp - they had dominating mothers-in-law and had to be docile; they are also expected to be accomodating with their busy daughters-in-law.
Their day of dominance has been left out of the menu. 

1 comment:

Wilkerson said...

In India, I think this cusp is felt by the male members of each passing generation-- that is, as children they would have noticed their mother is subservient to their grand-mother, but in adult life, when it comes to their wife, they would notice some-what less subservience in their wife to their mother. The transition is even more pronounced on the arrival of a daughter-in-law who will be even less subservient than their wife was to their mother.

Ceiling fan

 I read somewhere that as a solution for student suicides, IISc has decided to remove fans from hostel rooms. No fan, no suicide. This shoul...