Post colonial India left its citizens with numerous socio-economic and political challenges to deal with. From villages to towns, people were suffering from immense poverty and hardships, the economy was hit hard and people were dying of starvation. The traditional family structure was at the verge of collapse and the system of joint family was getting replaced by small and nuclear families with the changed gender roles. In India, pre and post independence, the concept of woman, was drawn from the scriptures and mythologies and modelled on women like Savitri and Sita, thus, working outside their traditional domains had no place in the typical patriarchal society hitherto but post independence women, encouraged by Indian constitution, education and reformists, strengthened their voice for equal rights and unbiased working opportunities. In such a volatile situation the newly formed government was still trying to establish itself and it did not have any concrete solution to the majority of the problems being faced. This research paper endeavors to explicate the emerging social issues in Halfway House the English translation of an iconoclastic work of Hindi drama Adhe Adhure by Mohan Rakesh. This play meticulously characterises the challenges and the problems of a middle class family struggling to maintain a balance between the traditional and modern values in post colonial India. Through this study an attempt has been made to delve deep into the issues and challenges faced by people in postcolonial India as a result of significant structural changes that happened in the society and which undermined the established social institutions and subverted the traditional social norms. The paper also highlights the theme of economic instability and the issues associated with it along with an analysis of the theme of absurdity of over ambitiousness and modernity.

Key words: Challenges, Family, Absurdity, Modernity, Patriarchy.