Father & Sons

For the sake of argument, if one were to visualise the apex Tata entity as Tata Fathers Ltd., a moral question could be raised: should a father insist on any kind of return from his progeny for his past support in bringing up and providing them with an almost readymade niche? Perhaps there is some merit in it. But the analogy cannot be carried too far. In these items of rank self-centredness, parents do often suffer from the ingratitude of their children. It is this natural moral dimension which needs to be recognised to resolve this debate.

The children in the Tata House should respond spontaneously to the legitimate call from the father to strengthen and enlarge the roof under which they would all be living for decades to come. Such a gesture, it seems to us, will be both honourable and dignified as a token of discharging pitri rin in the Indian ethos.

Members of Values System Alumni Association Calcutta.