Cheaper By the Dozen

And of course anything is cheaper by the dozen...and more fun and more colourful!!

I have been thinking of the book for such a long time.  I read it in the late 1980s --my first year in Botswana and it stuck with me. Americans told me that the book had been turned into a musical and later into movies.  I have seen the two latest ones from 2001 and 2003.  

I hardly watch TV, but have been using it to practice Swedish.  I am amazed when I find myself reading the subtitles more than listening to english.  Often I sit down with my google translate open so I can look up words!!

But yesterday when they announced this movie, I sat down and enjoyed every bit of it.

I think its been 2-3 years since I actually watched a movie on TV. 

Although I think that the movies do not do justice to the book set in the early part of the 20th century, but they capture the spirit.  I think the book can be made into movies for all the time to come, over and over again.  

One child families are sad.  So much focus on one child and their career makes them seem like they are the centre of the world.  There are so many articles on what is happening to Chinese people who grew up during one child policy. No siblings, no aunts and uncles and barely any cousins.

A sense of loneliness.

My mother has eight brother sisters, and Dad has four.  We are closer to our mother's side and that keeps us busy, with about nineteen cousins.  I have lived away from India for all my adult life and yet it is these people who have been my emotional support. I have lived a life of strength and character because I come from these good people.  No alcohol, no meat, no illicit relations, long term marriages, polite way of talking and no swearing.  Simple rules, splendid life.

Cheaper by the dozen, to me, is a tribute to parents who willingly create large families.  All the results are not always good, but the journey is an adventure.  Do watch the movie---better read the book