Recently released government data reveals that even as families are increasingly fragmenting in rural areas, more people in cities are choosing to live in extended families.Between 2001 and 2011, joint families in urban India grew 29%, whereas in rural areas they rose only 2%.

Then there are the hybrid models -sub-nuclear units when one spouse passes or when siblings live together, or supplemented nuclear, as when an unmarried relative adds to a nuclear unit. Because of migration, support needs for the elderly and for children, and the need to share resources, urban families are stretching, joining and evolving.

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This tendency for families to cluster in cities shouldn't surprise us, says Rajni Palriwala, sociologist at the Delhi School of Economics. The rising cost of housing, the fact that more women work outside the home and children need looking after, the vulnerability of the elderly, the mutual support offered by a big family are all reasons to stay together in the city. "We felt guilty that our parents were far away, and getting older and frailer while we made our lives in Delhi," says Gajendra Singh, who works in Delhi as a driver, and whose wife and parents live with him now. His wife's brother also stays with them intermittently, while working temporary jobs. "We eat together, live together, and it is a source of comfort rather than a stress. My mother misses the hills and weather of Uttarakhand, but she is happy with us," he says.