Relatives and cousins and friends

I have always had this iota of doubt as to why there are innumerous relations like sister’s brother’s cousin’s son and each one of them having a name for themselves because I don’t think anyone of us take any steps in remembering those complex relations. Anyways I have miserably failed in remembering those relationships (considering my wonderful memory power). All I do when I see my distant relatives is just give a smile of recognition and when they ask me whether I remember them I will immediately without even giving a thought will say “ungala ennakku theriyadha?”. Some people stop with that but some continue to make me feel more miserable by remembering my childhood days and asking me whether I remember. But I have a ready made answer for that too.. I will just tell that I was too young then and so I don’t remember anything.

Almost all will be facing these kinds of embarrassments but for me it’s more like self-inviting problems. After my dance programmes I will be receiving gifts and boquets from those persons whom I have not even met till now. Those days will be the most embarrassing days of my life. I really feel miserable for my indifferent attitude towards the concept RELATIONSHIPS.

As far as it comes to my interpretation with regards to this topic, I would any day prefer friends when compared to cousins and cousins brother’s sister’s son and blah blah.. This is mainly for the following reasons.

1. Easy to remember ( I mean the word ‘friend’)
2. You can be yourself.. that is you need not be formal and need not put a false image before anyone.
3. They are there for you at any time and very easily approachable.
4. They are the only people who can make you comfortable after your parents and your own siblings.
5. Since they are of the same age they can empathize better than anyone can do.


Often I have had arguments with my mother, where she says that I am acting too selfish i.e. I am just bothered about my work and my friends and that I don’t care for my relatives. She will compare her generation with that of mine. She says that when she was a teenager she was much more attached to her cousins and siblings when compared to her friends.

But my opinion is that the whole concept of cousins has disappeared. These days most of them feel that spending time with friends are much more fun when compared to spending time with cousins. At least in my case its absolutely true. I am much more comfortable with my friends (so are my cousins). One simple reason is because they understand my feelings and give respect to my emotions.

In most of the relations or cousins, its not the emotions or understanding that plays the role, it’s the so-called relation that we have been hearing from the time we were born. So all these cousins relations are also now turning out to be more like hi-bye relations.

Well, this is actually my own opinion.. I might be wrong too. There are exceptions to every thing..