Juneflower - Are you the marrying kind?

As the fact that I am in my late twenties is staring me in the face, I am bound to think about matrimony in general. I have begun to question the very concept of marriage. No wonder in the ancient times, our ancestors insisted on early marriages – probably they knew that if people hit their late twenties or early thirties – with a few strands of grey hair or receding hairlines - and could think in more vivid and experienced terms, they might end up giving a thumbs down to the whole affair.

According to me, a few reasons for which people marry (in full consciousness or otherwise)

Parental pressure: Understandable in the “Great Indian” context.

Love: The next logical step, they say. I would say a live-in relationship is good enough.

Need for companionship: A pet may not suffice for all people at all times. Also, who laid down the rule that the choice of companion should be driven by sexuality? Why do heterosexual people choose companions of the opposite sex and homosexuals, people of the same sex? Is marriage driven by the need for sexual fulfillment alone then?

Preemptive avoidance of repentance: Most people actually regret getting married and not the other way round!

Peer pressure: I would rather not analyze this.

Sex: Net present value of paid sex is cheaper over a lifetime, when compared to the planned and unforeseen amounts of money spent on a spouse.

Kids: Adoption is always an option

I am not taking sides here – there is no right or wrong reason to marry. We always don’t need a valid reason for everything too. Ever heard of someone who got married on a whim? Or by accident when mucking around?

Also, ever wondered what will happen to the zillions of melodramas wetting our idiot boxes if the concept of marriage suddenly ceased to exist? The Indian Television Industry would declare bankruptcy. Housewives and retired husbands will have nothing to look forward to in life. Prospective vamps would be deprived of their role models – in terms of dressing and dramatizing (and traumatizing). Divorce lawyers, marriage counselors, marriage hall owners, band-wallas, would all end up jobless. Unemployment would soar. Shaadi.com would have long buried the idea of moving from a click-only to a click-and-brick model and bit the dust along with its numerous dot com cousins mushrooming by the hour. The nation’s economy would see doom. This is so truly hilariously amusing.

Marriage is an issue with serious societal, economic and financial ramifications (!). In spite of looking at it from all angles, I still cannot figure out why marriage is such an overhyped concept and tacitly misunderstood as mandatory.

To each his own.