Family

Our grandparents basically knew EVERYONE in town. There were aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and so on. They knew their extended family like how we now know our immediate family, maybe even more. Our grandparents grew in villages with not much population, letting them be acquainted with many people. However, we live in cities, where sometimes we don’t even know our own neighbors that well. This is a big social difference between us and our grandparents.

Modern Day - Us

How often do you see your cousins? How close are you with them? We don’t know about you but Medhana has 4 first cousins and Sruthi has 14 first cousins but when it comes to second cousins we have so many that sometimes we don’t even know that they are our cousins until our parents or someone tells us. This means that sometimes we don't know them that well. As for our first cousins we are always waiting for the next chance or time when we can see them again but sometimes when we visit India and we go to see family, it feels a bit awkward and our parents tell us to talk more and not be so stiff. We think we could talk more but we don’t because we don’t know them that well.

Grandparents

Our parents and my grandparents all talk to their cousins and their extended family so freely and they don’t seem like they feel awkward. They grew up in their cousin's houses like it was their house. Their whole village would be their relatives, if not close friends. They talk to old acquaintances like they see each other every day.