Questions posed by the imbalance of amorous relationships in India

Much is written about the world becoming a flatter place, the levelling of aspirations and modes of behaviour across the globe. But there do exist two dissimilar dimensions. At the level of amorous relationships, that is. In one world, comprising mostly the twittering uber urban lot, one finds people partner-hopping with the felicity of, well, rabbits.

Breaking off with someone no longer even seems to invoke the genteel phrase of a relationship having ended. It is called, simply, aptly, dumping; often communicated in the form of the exquisitely abbreviated message: u r dumpd. Familiarity didn’t even get time to breed contempt, leave alone children.

Then there is the Indian dimension, rather, often the small-town, mofussil one. Where lie stories with drama, emotion, maybe some action, and certainly tragedy. Take the case of the newly-married couple from one such north Indian town who, after the bride on the night of their wedding revealed to her husband that she was in love with someone else — indeed, had married the first chap a few days prior to this momentous night — decided to tie the sibling knot.

The rakhi having been dutifully procured and planted on the arm of this outrightly noble chap, the latter decided to unite his (illegal?) new wife-turned-newer sister with her former lover/first husband. The latter, however, added further sting and twist to the tale by shunning the girl.

All this begs the question whether one of the aforementioned worlds should be shamed by the notions of belonging, fealty and sacrifice inhabiting the other. Or whether the latter feels those are ideals best, well, dumped as they can, like in this case, arise from stifling social norms and skewed gender equations. It’s the saas-bahu serial vs Splitsvilla question. Decide for yourself.