Jul 22 2015 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

The Speaking Tree - Love Family, Not Blindly

ISHAN CHAUDHURI





The family is the smallest unit of society . It is the unit most of us are most familiar with.Quite naturally , our love and loyalty for it is the strongest.Along with this natural inclination, we have been taught, directly and indirectly , that the family is sacred. But what if the family is not just a happy sanctuary but also a `hideout' where blanket protection is guaranteed for wrongdoers? Trained as we are to be blindly loyal to this unit, the family does not exist in a moral vacuum. To protect its members no matter what they may be guilty of, and not help in making them change their ways, is to abuse the very sanctity of the family .Mehboob Khan's 1957 film, Mother India, is the most illustrative depiction of someone standing up to, and taking action against, the wrongs committed by a family member. When Radha (Nargis) finds out that one of her sons, Birju (Sunil Dutt), a bandit, has killed a man and kidnapped his daughter, she is forced to shoot her own beloved son dead.
Such extreme conditions that arise in the film hardly come up in our lives. But much smaller, everyday versions of Birju's shortcomings and how we react to them do.We must not be blinded by the sanctity of family so much that we disregard the wrongs committed by a family member at the cost of the world outside. Monks give up the ties of family for this very purpose, so that any conflict of interest is removed. Such an extreme measure need not be resorted to if one remains loyal to one's family without being morally blinded by it.