Devil's advocate

I refuse to be diplomatic on this one. When it's about love marriage versus arranged marriage, the choice is clear -- arranged marriage for sure.

Don't believe me.. believe Shakespeare... will you? Wasn't it his beautiful Jessica in Merchant of Venice who said "Love is blind and lovers cannot see..."?

He said it..... Love is blind.

 Would you make the most important decision of your life blindly?

Think Shakespeare is old fashioned? Believe the Discovery Channel? Here read this..
A study by Rutgers University biological anthropologist Helen Fisher and colleagues examined the brain scans of men and women reported truly, madly in love. Each of the images showed the same activity in the brain’s reward system as that which occurs in the brain of a cocaine addict.

Yup.. that's what addicts think they are...

... that, my friends is the real deal
That's right .. cocaine addict!!! Would you make the decision of your life under the influence of cocaine?

I rest my case.

I, of course had an arranged marriage... the whole deal. Sari perfectly draped, tray in hand, laden with mere haath ke bane samose and steaming chai, that's how I made my entry. One bite of the samosa and The Husband nodded out an emphatic 'Yes'. No one knows to date, whether it was for the marriage or the samosa. Both, I hope.

It's been over two decades and he continues to love the samosas of my hometown, which he later discovered, were bought from the neighbourhood halwai. What? Cheating? Oh so now you'll get all righteous and carp about one tiny samosa. What about those hundreds of lies people in love tell each other? The whole tare tor laoonga bit and the duniya se ladoonga promise, then there's the tripe about sab kuchh chhor doongi, mujhe paisa nahin chahiye. Lies.. all of it.

In fact, I think one should go a step ahead and opt for child marriages. For one there's the obvious advantage of the girl adapting to the ways of her new home. Also, she learns to love her new family like her old one. I mean no matter how horrible our siblings are or how eccentric our parents are we still love them, don't we? Well that's how she'll be with her husband and in-laws. Perfect recipe for a happy life. Right?

Doesn't happen in today's times, you think. Don't you watch television? Haven't you seen our own Anandi raking in the TRPs? And here's an instance from real life.

That's 5 year old Khalid and 3 year old Hala, on their engagement
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20020554-503543.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Had my parents had the foresight to marry me off young I might not have needed that halwai at all. I'd have made perfect samosas, just the way mom-in-law makes them, just the way The Husband likes them and my life's ambition would have been complete. Foresight -- that's what my parents lacked. I spent years and years slogging, studying, working but what's the point? Can I get the samosa right? Nope.

Sigh!

While we're on this.. suitable alliances are invited for a strapping 6 year old boy and a delicate 6 year old girl. Send in with photo.

Thank You

Disclaimer: This is completely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people dead or alive is merely coincidental. Oh the bit about inviting matches is true.. just wait for another 20 years, though.

This post is part of the raging controversy between love and arranged marriages. For more points of view go here .

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