Relationships  Discussion Forum

hi vimpy,
do' nt be bitter dear.it' s the way we are brought up here in inia.we do have different set of values.that does' nt make yours wrong or ours right though.eg: we can' t imagine to move out of our parent' s home when we turn 18 or send our old parents into old homes etc.so take a chill pill.WE belong to differt parts of world, so there are going to be differnt values. thats only natural.
take care

It is the pre concieved notions that we have about a " western" culture that bothers me. Why do you assume that all western kids move out into the world and support themselves when they are 18? I live here and I have seen parents saving up for their kids college education far more than I have seen it in India simply because this is awfully expensive here. The best of universities are often far away from parents home so kids do have to live in dorms quite like those of us who went to IITS etc. It is not as if the responsibility of parents and kids ends there. Kids often work to earn a bit extra for their expenses etc of course there are some who pay for their own education.
The same applies for old age. It is not as if just because the seniors move to retirement communitites they have stopped being parents or grandparents. So many grandparents support their grandkids education. So many grandkids take care of their grandparents happiness even if they live away. This notion that people here live only for themselves while only people in India sacrifice is so wrong.
What is actually different I see here than from India is that there is a responsibility a citizen has towards the betterment of the entire community and they work towards that be the garbage collector, the mailman or the mayor or a teacher or an ordinary citizen a kid or a grandparent. We lack that in India. This is something we need to acknowledge and learn from.
As far as personal human relations go the basic human values are not that different.