Mode of Denial

Last week I had my doctor's appointment and while waiting for my turn in the waiting room, I was browsing some travel magazine. There was a section on India tourism inside the magazine and in the section, there was an ad with a picture of herd of elephants and big bold note "we still believe in joint family system". Now this is a mode of denial. Like any other society, India is also going through changes and as globalization is increasing, there are visible changes in the Indian society and family system, specially in the middle class. I am not saying that all changes are for good (who knows it anyway) and I am also not saying that we should not highlight the selling points for getting more tourists. But there is a contradiction in what we think we are and what the realities are. Now, what we need is more of smart and unbiased social scientists and anthropologists to study and analyzed these social changes and break some of the myths about our family system.