MARRIAGE

Marriage is a fusion of two souls. It is a promise by two adults before god to keep on the course beating all the challenges thrown to test them. This custom derived from millions of experiments through the ages past is a binding force, second only to religion. It has been praised to be the greatest social institution. It has proved to be a balm to frustrated souls.

Contrarily, the convention has been ridiculed by many. It has been the butt of jokes from poets to humorists. Jibes and satires of all hues have been made at the expense of this universal practice. The institution of marriage has evoked diverse comments, but it has survived all. The evolutionary metamorphosis of human race has only strengthened it. The Finnish proverb rightly states –love is a flower that turns into fruit at marriage.

. Some societies prize courtship route before marriage. Good for the partakers. But even a long courtship cannot reveal a person in totality, warts and all. It needs the day-in-and-day-out facts of constant presence. Otherwise the divorce lawyers will starve to extinction. Thus,except the childhood chums of Hollywood and Bollywoood,marriage is a union of choice between two strangers most of the times.  They do it with the full knowledge of the diversities separating them as individuals. The alchemy of sacred vows changes everything. They suddenly become partners of each other’s loss and gain; grief and happiness; health and sickness. They begin to sustain each other in times of need.  It is the sanctity of the institution of marriage that accomplishes the impossible. The idea has become embedded in human psyche. It has almost become a part of the genes of mankind. Marriage separates the homo-sapiens from the lower species.

Sex is fine. It is a binding ingredient of the bliss of marriage but it is not like animals. It becomes secondary to other nuances. Companionship, love, empathy, near bonding of even the thought process comes into play post marriage within no time. It makes a person jump and say-You make me so happy that I would try the same for you for a life time.  The western societies where the convention of marriage is losing its sanctity suffer more than the eastern where it still remains traditional.

Marriage is a serious affair. The convention is blessed by God, sanctioned by law, accepted by the society and fortified by love. The reason for marriage is the entrenched desire to multiply the species. A bond of affection is the gift received. Sharing and caring is the process till death. It is a coupling of two individuals who vow “to have and hold for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health to love and to cherish until death do them apart.” It is one institution that has gone from strength to strength. Aberrations might shake a person but the exceptions only prove the rule. From the food gathering days to the moon walking zenith of evolution the tradition of marriage has remained unwaveringly intact.