The Secret Diary of The Beautiful Mind

  In the 80s, many Indians pulled themselves out of the uncertainty of the earlier times and were living stable lives. In fact, the rise of middle class is evident in the significant developments in the intellectual sphere. The 80s marked the beginning of the rise of nuclear families in India. The average family had a father, mother, two or three children, and lots of love. Both the children and the parents were kind of heaving a sigh of relief. They no longer had to bear the pressure of joint families, but they were somehow missing them too. The parents were moral, but didn’t usually go out of the way to teach their kids a lesson. Last but not the least, within limits of decency, they allowed their kids to choose the clothes they wanted to wear and the food they wanted to eat. Father had a job that was usually good enough to take care of the household. Some of the mothers were working too, but they did so only in less time-consuming jobs like those of teachers. All in all, the parents

  The 70's were marked pronouncedly by the emergency! Not only was the economy struggling but then came sudden atmosphere of suppression and fear with the emergency.  As families worked and struggled to make ends work, a lot depended on the doles handed out by the government. Endless queues, may it be for getting milk, grocery from the ration shops or standing for tickets at the local movie theatre. With the declaration of emergency, things changed overnight. Uncertainty and fear would loom large all around. Things seemed better for a while, more punctuality at work, more efficiency in factories, but so was a sense of injustice. Children in the 70s witnessed all this, from being the helping hand in the house, from being carefree in the town to experiencing this suppressed restlessness and turmoil in the society. Their perspectives changed, from being blindly obedient to those in authority to questioning the right and wrong. Yes, it was true that one had to fight to get almost every

The 50s and 60s was an era of turmoil - recent independence, war with Pakistan. As a child of the 50s and 60s, one didn't have 2 parents, it was more like 20. Families, joint, extended, not only stayed together but worked together as well. There was no television but there was plenty of drama. As far as parenting was concerned, it was extremely strict. Keeping in mind the ever-present poverty, there was an air of miserliness all around. Kids rarely received presents of any sorts. There were strong emotional bonding in the family though. The entire family would gather over lunch and dinner. Isolation among children was unheard of. Traditional games introduced lot of useful qualities in children - patience, adjustment, focus, companionship and more.. Childhood was not all play and fun. Discipline, obedience and sincerity was expected of a child. 'To be respectful towards elders, to be honest and truthful, not be wasteful, to  control one’s greed, temptations and anger and to exer