Revision sheet · night-before
Family and Community
Read top to bottom — it follows the order of the chapter. Tick each section off as you finish it.
1 · Family types
| JOINT FAMILY | NUCLEAR FAMILY | |
|---|---|---|
| Who lives together | Several generations — grandparents, parents, uncles/aunts, siblings, cousins | A couple and their children (sometimes one parent + children) |
| Examples in the chapter | Shalini's family (Kerala), Tenzing's family (Meghalaya) | Illustrated on p.138 |
Opening quote"Love and dharma are the flower and fruit of family life." — Tiruvalluvar
2 · Family relationship terms
- English has few kinship terms; Hindi has many more — bua, tau, tai, chacha, mausi, nana, nani.
- Tamil has different terms for elder vs younger siblings.
- Most Indian languages have no word for 'cousin' — cousins are just 'brothers'/'sisters'.
Remember the tableचाचा (chacha) = father's younger brother. बहन in the example table is used for a female cousin ("mother's brother's daughter"), among other meanings.
3 · Family values — the four to know
| Term | Means |
|---|---|
| Ahimsa | Non-violence |
| Dāna | Giving |
| Sevā | Service |
| Tyāga | Sacrifice |
Following dharma (duty) has been an important principle of Indian culture; the family is a 'school' for these values.
4 · Shalini vs Tenzing — quick recall
The most examined comparison in the chapterLearn this table by heart.
| SHALINI | TENZING | |
|---|---|---|
| State | Kerala | Meghalaya |
| Setting | A town | A mountain village |
| Key event | Onam festival — uncle Chittappa lost his job | Mother busy in a handicraft cooperative |
| Family response | Parents bought clothes for the whole extended family — Shalini got cotton, not silk | Father took on cooking, cleaning, gardening; grandparents help with stories, homework, social work |
| Lesson | Families support each other and share what they have (tyāga) | Roles adapt; special expenses are discussed together; save for the future |
5 · Roles and Responsibilities
Family relationships rest on love, care, cooperation (= working together) and interdependence. Parents raise children to be happy, responsible members of society; children take on more responsibility as they grow, learning traditions through daily practice.
6 · Community — rural examples
- Community = connected families/people, or a group sharing religion/region/work/interest.
- Communities agree on unwritten 'rules' for shared resources (water, grazing, forest produce) — still true in much of rural India.
Numbers and names to memorise
Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) water crisis → Bhil community's halma tradition → planted trees, dug trenches → objective: serve Mother Earth.
2019: Shri Mahesh Sharma (Shivganga movement) won the Padma Shri for Bhil community work.
Chennai floods, 2015: private/religious groups cooked and distributed food.
2019: Shri Mahesh Sharma (Shivganga movement) won the Padma Shri for Bhil community work.
Chennai floods, 2015: private/religious groups cooked and distributed food.
7 · Community — urban examples
- Kamal Parmar (Ahmedabad, Gujarat): auto-fabrication workshop owner; taught underprivileged children 5:30–9:30 pm daily + free dinner; 150 children attended.
- RWAs (Residents' Welfare Associations): newer (30–40 years), make their own local rules.
- Communities are interdependent — RWAs depend on traders for supplies, municipal workers for waste.
Flexible concept'Community' can also mean a jāti, or a group by religion/region/work/interest — 'Mumbai's Parsi community', 'Chennai's Sikh community', a school's sports/art community, etc.
8 · Ten facts most likely to be asked
- Joint family = several generations; nuclear family = couple + children
- No word for 'cousin' in most Indian languages
- Four values: ahimsa, dāna, sevā, tyāga
- Shalini's story is set in Kerala, at Onam
- Tenzing's story is set in Meghalaya
- Community rules for shared resources are usually unwritten
- Jhabua (MP) + Bhil community + halma tradition
- Shri Mahesh Sharma won the Padma Shri in 2019
- Kamal Parmar taught 150 children in Ahmedabad
- Communities are ultimately interdependent
Common mistakes to avoid
Don't lose marks here
- Mixing up dāna (giving), sevā (service) and tyāga (sacrifice) — they are three distinct values.
- Saying Shalini's story is set in Meghalaya, or Tenzing's in Kerala — it's the other way round.
- Calling the halma tradition "paid work" — it is explicitly unpaid, done as a duty.
- Thinking community only exists in villages — the chapter gives urban examples too (Kamal Parmar, RWAs).
- Forgetting that communities are interdependent — no community is fully self-sufficient.
- Saying a "jāti" is unrelated to "community" — the chapter explicitly calls it one kind of community.