FAMILY MATTERS

Several economists might have their pattern of research to calculate the gross household income, the ultimate GDP, the per capita income and other such hi fi economic and fiscal terms. I for one, am quite weak in maths and other money related aspects. But the people at the grass root level always astonish me with their very naive and excellent way of managing all these astoundingly difficult terminologies. Their business acumen is par excellence.

The common house wife with very little academic background is your typical expert in money churning. With the paltry income that the husband brings home, she provides food ( four square - at times)  on the table for the family, arranges the children's education ,when they grow up get them a job, marry them off later, makes sure each and every festival on the calendar is celebrated with sufficient gusto , required quantity of gold is purchased and above all she has some left over to run her small scale "finance company - of lending , pawning and chits". This always amazes me, for most of this goes on without the knowledge of her husband. Maybe our financial experts should take a lesson or two from her.

James A Michener's " Huawei" dwells on one such character. a Chinese immigrant who is silently behind the scene business-tycoon who lifts her family from rags to riches and makes them the number one richest family in the land.

Closer home, when we were in the college, it was mandatory to either join the National Cadet Corps or be part of the National Social Services. I joined with the NSS. We visited the villages nearby and tried to do some social work for them. They tolerated us with a smile. The village we visited was in the coastal area with predominantly fisher folk population. They had huge families. I enquired one lady how come they had such huge families and continue to bring more and more members of their family into the miserable life they were leading. She had an interesting answer. “It ensures the family income stays within our family itself". "How come" i asked? she said " two of my sons go with their father to fish, two small boys not yet big enough to venture into the sea will tend the nets, two girls will sell the catch in the streets, while a bunch of other brats will help dry the fish. Back home, the bigger kids will take care of their younger siblings and also complete the household chores. I and my mother-in-law will go out to do some house maid jobs and supplement the family income. If so many kids were not there, I would have to hire outsiders. How do you think I could pay them?”. Well I did not have a reply then nor do I have one now. The country’s economist better watch out.
The moral of the story- the very rich and the very poor cannot be brought under any bracket of assumptions.