Art blossoms with joint family nurturing

In India joint families were always a part of the strong social fabric. Slowly the nuclear family system became dominant.

The reasons were not hard to find. Most young wives did not like the joint family system because it gave them many unacknowledged responsibilities and little say in decision making. For a young bride a joint family meant many eyes examining how she cooked the dal, what she ate, how she dressed and what time she woke up, since staying late in bed was frowned upon.

But today, on the occasion of International Family Day, DNA brings you artists from the city who tell you that there is still hope left for this system.

Ten women recently held an art show for the first time and they vouched for the fact that if they had not got the support of their joint family they would never have been able to paint.

The artists are Aarti Patel, Krupa Shah, Tanvi Shah, Mukta Agarwal, Madhavi Kothari, Menka Rathore, Shrinidhi Manakiwala, Rucha Shah, Neeraj Dhall and Vandana Shah. 

Eight out of the ten are homemakers, who have spent most of their lives bringing up their children and taking care of their families.

Aarti Patel says, “I was married 17 years ago. Earlier, we never had a platform to display our talent. I realised that I needed to do something of my own and  being in a joint family I got a lot of support. I understood that it is also very important for my children to grow up with their grandparents and learn their family values.”

Krupa Shah's 13-year-old son gives her an honest opinion of her work. “It helped me improve a great deal gradually. Sometimes I get feedback from my other family members too,” she says.

Tanvi Shah quit her software career to pursue her passion. “Even today my children and family are my first priority, but art is something that gives me happiness and I would continue to pursue it. As we divide the work at home being in a huge joint family, I get to spend time on my art. There are pros and cons of being in a joint family. We do have trivial disputes but at the end we need them by our side,” she says with a smile.

Vandana Shah feels that sometimes work gets affected with the pressures of family life. “But, a family also becomes an inspiration. We discuss my work at the dinner table and somewhere I am grounded because of the presence of these people around me,” she says.