The thing with the weddings...

It was my cousin Radhika's wedding, on the 28th of October 2018, in my native -Ottapalam. It was a  good opportunity to catch up with my relatives who belong to different generations.

Talking about generations, would like to note the accepted classification of ‘generations’ in the 20th and 21st centuries. 

• GI Generation - generation of world war 2 veterans. They were born between 1901 and 1924
• Silent generation - They were born approximately from 1924 to 1945
• Baby boomers - Generation born after the world war 2 till 1960 or so. 
• GenX - This followed baby boomers and include folks who were born till around 1980
• Millennials or GenY - The folks who were born post the 1980s till the early part of 2000s
• Gen Z - Those who were born after the mid 2000s

I am not lucky enough to have a relative alive who belong to the GI generation.  Barring GI generation, the wedding offered me a chance to meet up with folks in all other generations. This made me ruminate on the family history and how the relations have evolved or rather dissolved through the generations.

The centre point in my family is this great mansion in Ottapalam. The mansion is typical of any family with a history of 75 years or more. It was the folks who belonged to 19th century and may be in early GI generation who built this mansion. The children who were born in Silent generation were the first generation occupants of this great mansion. Back in those days, the children of the household had enough numbers to form a small school. When the silent generation grew up, they migrated to different places, married and got settled elsewhere. Yet the mansion and hometown was always their returning point.

Many of the children born in the baby boomer period lived in the mansion as a big joint family along with their many siblings and cousins. The relationship among the members was very close and the binding force was largely due to the presence of common elders who belonged to GI generation. Eventually the baby boomers too grew up, migrated to different places, married and got settled elsewhere. But unlike the previous generation, for the baby boomers, the mansion was not a returning point. It was more like a vacation option. But the presence of one or two common elders of GI, made sure the baby boomer generation was still not too far.

The GenX and GenY children met their cousins in the mansion during the vacation time - onam, christmas and summer. The connectedness was still there and the vacations were longed for. By the time the GenY grew up and got married off, the folks in GI had left this planet for good. The binding force was getting loose with the elders in Silent generation holding the forte. The children born as GenZ hear only stories of their ancestors who once reigned the great mansion. 

The thing with the weddings is that it is an opportunity to bring all the relatives together once again all over. It is a great, joyous event which makes one connect back to the roots. The livelihood in a big joint family that folks in Silent generation and baby boomer generation experienced will never return. But the occasion of wedding gives just enough time to feel the wind of old times.