A few tips for ensuring domestic bliss

Today I had been to the market and had brought home some of the wonderful vegetables that are unique to winter, vegetables like green peas, cauliflower, carrots and new potatoes. While everyone knows about the first three, many may not know about the fourth – namely new potatoes. This is the freshly dug up potatoes that have a light layer of skin on its surface that can be rubbed off quite easily. This type of potatoes are lovely to make the dum aloo.
Anyway, this is not about making dum aloo but a small piece on how to ensure domestic bliss. Unlike western culture where marriage and divorce go hand in hand and where one-night stands and live-in does not raise eyebrows, we Indians do not believe in the concept of easy-come, easy-go. Yes, unhappy marriages in India do end nowadays in separation but that is not common. What is common is that Indian couples live out their lives irrespective of differences. They realize that adjustment is most essential in life and believe in compromises.
Once upon a time, the Indian family meant a joint family with parents and the children living together, at times with grandparents, uncles and aunts. However, over the last half century, things have changed. Children have moved away from parents in order to avail better employment opportunities. As a result, the joint family system has broken down and has given rise to what is known as nuclear families.
This has its plus and minus points – among the pluses are the chance for the children to be independent and live their own lives. In today’s world everyone is ambitious and, it is but natural that the children leave an impression in whatever they do. The parents can watch from a distance and, instead of sighing, should take pride in whatever their next generation does.
On the negative side, the separation affects their children – they miss out on living with grandparents and the familial bonding with others in the family like uncles, aunts, and cousins gradually weakens. Anyway – a few tips for domestic bliss to keep the better half happy and in good humor are to help out in the kitchen once in a while – not necessarily by washing dishes but also by carrying out small jobs like shelling the peas or skinning the garlics.
Of course – there is another tip provided by someone that I had come across once upon a time. It was the version of the husband. He had said that his wife takes all the minor decisions while he takes only the major ones. When pressed to clarify he said that she took all decisions of how to spend the money, when and where. He took decisions of whether Russia and the US should shake hands and become friends.