It146;s not about love

The mushroom cloud kicked up by the nuclear deal had journalists using marriage as a metaphor for discord.

The mushroom cloud kicked up by the nuclear deal had journalists using marriage as a metaphor for discord. While the more cautious were content to announce merely 8216;the end of the honeymoon8217; the doomsayers cried themselves hoarse shouting divorce. Mercifully, the storm has abated but one wonders why we drag this noble institution into controversy at the drop of a hat.

8220;A man is incomplete without marriage, only then is he finished,8221; goes an old joke but married people would agree that laughing at marriage has its own perils. More so for Hindus, who believe that the proverbial itch has no chance of surfacing before the completion of seven lives.

No wonder our obsession with this institution is the stuff of epics. The Ramayana happened because King Dashrath had married Kaikeyee. The Mahabharata, because Bhishma did not marry Amba, whom he had won in a swayamvara. Elsewhere of course, The Da Vinci Code became a bestseller because it created a doubt 8212; a fictional one of course 8212; that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. And, contrary to what the title suggests, the theme of Tolstoy8217;s magnum opus, War and Peace, is also marriage.

Truth is, we may love it or hate it but there is no escape from it. That brings us to the all-important question 8212; is there a happy marriage? Well, it8217;s a bit like asking if the bridge is beautiful. A bridge is either strong or weak. Similarly, a marriage is either peaceful or stormy. Any search for happiness in a marriage must invite the favourite response of the cheeky computer: 8216;invalid query8217;. This is of course not to deny that some bridges are strong as well as beautiful. But that8217;s beside the point.

Well, if that does not set one8217;s doubts about marriage at rest, perhaps the reader should listen to a song from the 1976 British film, The Slipper and the Rose. It has the king of Euphrania putting this poser to his son: What has love got to do with getting married? The question came up because the prince was reluctant to enter into, ahem, a political marriage at his father8217;s prodding. The last line sums it all up: 8220;What has marriage got to do with being happy?8221;