Build a Tribe That Cares, Gives, Grows, and Shares

  Sharing - Caring - Giving - Growing 

My fav area where I get different kind of thoughts is Medical College, Trivandrum, especially around evening as street lights take over.

The people milling around, rush of buses, screaming siren of ambulance, traffic lights, mute sight of Causality Building of Medical College, vendors squatting by the way side, people with xray in one hand, groundnut seller tapping his metal spoon to attract customers, medical students wearing stethoscope, boys and girls enjoying Peni ice cream, cobbler who sits on the payment, cops coming out of police station, medical store owners looking happy with the sales, broken road inside TRIDA, fruit sellers making a sale, girls in groups buying provision in a store, young people flocking at Malabar Bites, people coming in and out of Jayaram Bakery, Regunath Stores which is stuck in time, thattu kada packed during evening,  a lady who sells tender coconut, spirited people coming out of Ruby Arena bar, and all other things around. 

Why are we loosing the Caring Part in our Society! 

One answer could be this - we are busy, busy meeting ends, busy making new plans, busy taking care of our job, busy with our chores, busy to see more customers and make money, busy with our scheme, busy for the sake of being busy!

Another reason is this - We hardy come together to work on a common project! Remember the earlier years - around 70's and 80's. We formed some groups to get things done. We had to have family members to serve food during wedding and the uncles in the family would come together to make a dish or dessert or halwa. Now, we do it by outsourcing it to a caterer. 

Same in the case of shifting the house. These days we hire people ( strangers) for everything. From catering, to shifting house, to repairing a broken thing! We hardly ask a family member about a reference. In some rare cases, we do. But, most of us, we google, we put a query on a FB group, look for recommendation from a friend...

Is there a way out? I don't think so!

There's no turning back. We're more nuclear in our approach. I don't think we can go back to the old life of depending or asking a relative or friend! We go on with our everyday life, depending more on virtual support, paid labour, and we like this way! 

How can you try to build more connections?

1. Next time you have a party at home, ask your guests to bring a food they have prepared. 

2. Tell your family members to join to make a dish for the wedding! For example, if there's payasam or halwa to be made, then get some 10 or 20 family members to come a day prior to make this dish. It would be a group activity which will be guided by a chef from the family or from outside. This kind of joint activity can be space for relatives to know each other, spend time for one activity. 

3. When a person is shifting their house in your family, then form a group to help them out. Probably, you can do couple of trips to shift few things, or help in arranging things. 

4. When someone is building a house - visit their house, spend some time with them, help them financially if you have funds or if they require, or give physical support.

5. Plan a one-day outing with your family members ( at least once a year)

6. Make