Marriage, a socio-religious institution, has often made news in recent years for reasons all good or bad. From the rising trend of big, fat star-studded weddings, to the governments arranging for mass, modest weddings of the underprivileged; from the flurry of reels, photoshoots, bride & groom entry with a clutch of lavish props in the backdrop, to the recent trend of intelligentsia switching to humble ways with lesser guests and frugal spendings, the institution comes in various forms and how!
Marriage has been an institution that comes with a long trail of associated events or happenings. From wedding festivities, to honeymoon, to having kids, parenting them and sponsoring their higher education, getting them married, and living a comfortable post-retirement life thereafter; the cycle has immensely contributed to the economy and society. With destination weddings & honeymoons giving a solid boost to tourism and local economy, to the institutional deliveries and treatment further adding to the thriving medical industry; from the huge kids & young adults’ toys, educational and fashion market, to the insurance and gratuity plans for the post-retirees, marriage touches almost every single aspect of life in 360° and opens up a wide range of innovative possibilities in areas far and wide.
Being fancy and extremely flourishing on one end, another poses a bleak picture of the institution bringing with it the consequences that millions out there, irrespective of their educational stature or family background, are myopic at the start.
The ills of dowry, domestic violence, honor killing, marital rape, mental harassment, adultery, trauma-induced partition, and culpable homicide, are some of the menaces (such a shame that some of these aren't even considered a crime on paper in the existing Indian legal landscape) that the auspicious institution carries with it in several cases, bringing an insurmountable flurry of trauma, hatred, resentment, and slow death for one of the partners, or both, or the complete family, alas!
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| Image: AI |
Following the heartwrenching suicide case of the Beauty Pageant Winner and Actor, Twisha Sharma, someone rightly and boldly said in a TV interview that ‘it's better to have a divorced daughter/son, rather than a dead one’. People, parents, families and societies, should understand that the amount of emotional travesty and societal questioning brought in by a divorce/partition will forever be quite minute in comparison to the one caused by a permanent, tragic detachment from their dearest ones.
The former at least does give a chance to heal with the passage of time and restart a newer, somewhat happier life for everyone; the latter, unfortunately, dosen't!