Thursday, May 3, 2007

Life Imitates Bollywood....

or at least the Apu Trilogy, somewhat:
Drunk groom's brother takes his place
With groom reportedly too inebriated, sibling steps in, takes bride

Reuters
Updated: 2:58 a.m. ET April 30, 2007

PATNA, India - Villagers at a wedding in eastern India decided the groom had arrived too drunk to get married, and so the bride married the groom's more sober brother instead, police said Monday.

"The groom was drunk and had reportedly misbehaved with guests when the bride's family and local villagers chased him away," Madho Singh, a senior police officer told Reuters after Sunday's marriage in a village in Bihar state's Arwal district.

The younger brother readily agreed to take the groom's place beside the teenage bride at her family's invitation, witnesses said.

"The groom apologized for his behavior, but has been crying that word will spread and he will never get a bride again," Singh said by phone.
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.


Over at the Dilbert blog, they had a grand old time of it. Making fun of their presumably superior western view* of marriage, not realizing that to many "indians" (and this cuts a wide swarth of linguistic, genetic and cultural variance greater than Europe) marriage- and love is something you make, not something that happens to you.

With all our free choices and free will, why is it so many people are unmarried and our divorce rate so high?

*If you think I am one of those multicultural 'the west sucks' guilt-trippers, stay tune for my Indian Mutiny entry , may 10th.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

DON'T SAVE YOURSELF

Don’t remain immobile
At the edge of the road
Don't freeze the joy
Don't love with reluctance
Don't save yourself now
or ever
Don't save yourself.

Don't fill with calm
Don't reserve in the world
Only a secure place
Don't let your eyelids fall
Heavily as judgments
Don’t speak without lips
Don't sleep without sleepiness
Don't imagine yourself without blood
Don't judge yourself without time.

But if
in spite of everything
You can't help it,
And you freeze the joy,
And you love with reluctance,
And you save yourself now,
And you fill with calm
And you reserve in the world
Only a calm place,
And you let fall your eyelids
Heavily as judgments,
And you speak without lips,
And you sleep without sleepiness,
And you imagine yourself without blood,
And you judge yourself without time,
And you remain immobile
At the edge of the road,
And you save yourself,
Then…
Don't stay with me.

Mario Benedetti