माला की चिट्ठी

In this chapter, students of Hindi will acquire the vocabulary, cultural knowledge, and reading skills necessary to understand and discuss India’s joint family system. Although nuclear families have become commonplace in India, the ideal of “joint families” remains popular. In a joint family, multiple generations live together in a single home, with brothers continuing to reside with their parents after marriage, along with their wives and children. Daughters, by contrast, are expected to live with their in-laws after marriage. It’s customary for in-laws to give a new bride time to settle into her marital home before assigning her a share of the household chores. The chapter includes pre-reading questions about the reader’s impressions about the joint family system, a glossary of relevant vocabulary, and a story in which a newly married woman writes a letter to her natal family describing her life in the joint family. The notes on culture elucidate issues related to the joint family system, and the activities guide students in their comprehension of the story and in applying this knowledge to constructing and interpreting family trees that show different types of kinship relationships.