Hello lovely people! This is the month of ‘Love’ and just like January (my son’s birthday month), February is also my favorite month of the year. Nah, not because of the Valentine’s day! But because of my Marriage day! Strange, isn’t it? In Feb 2015, I got married to the person who still makes me fall in love with him again and again. But guess what? It was not Love at first sight! And, of course, it was not a love marriage! It’s strange how some people come into our life and then become our everything. Here’s our story of finding love in an arranged marriage!

I don’t usually write on such topics, but this month, I want to explore my love for blogging and writing. While crafting a blog, I focus on what my readers would want to read and what content they would find helpful or interesting. Mostly, I share valuable information for parents to make their lives easier. However, this month, I want to write for myself. Although I could write it in a personal journal, I also want to make it public. In today’s world, arranged marriages are often looked down upon and finding love can seem too challenging. I want to put this out there before the notion of arranged marriages becomes extinct.

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Also, since I’m participating in #WriteAPageADay with Blogchatter, these posts/entries would be a perfect fit. I have the freedom to write anything I want! Yippee!!!

So, let’s go back to 2014 when my parents were making my life difficult by pestering me to get married. I was 28 years old, pretty frustrated with the whole idea of marriage. No, wait! Not with the concept of marriage but how things are made difficult for a girl by the prospective groom’s family.

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I had already met and said ‘no’ to a few boys by then not because I didn’t like the person but simply because of the expectations their family had from me.

Finding Love: The Arranged Way

One family told me I would have to keep my head covered and eyes down after marriage whenever there will be someone around. That was a shocking demand in the name of respect. I told them I would respect them but I want to keep my head high. They didn’t like that!

Another family was quite religious; they found some fault in my kundli. They wanted me to follow certain rituals, wear some rings, visit the temple every day to ward off the negativity from my stars. I wanted to understand how me doing all this could help their family. I questioned, they got offended!

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There was one well off family, who didn’t want any dowry from my family. But they said, they wouldn’t stop my parents if they want to give any gifts to their daughter; things that would make me feel comfortable in their home. I told them I don’t really like gifts and their ego got hurt!

Then there were boys who behaved like a puppet in front of their families, expecting me to become a puppet too. No way was I going to marry a man child!

Now, after a decade, I can say I did the right thing. I feel proud of myself for not falling into the guilt trap of ‘ladkiyon ko karna padta hai, sun na padta hai’ (girls have to agree to what their would be in-laws want).

I feel being a single child, I was given a lot of liberty to make my own decisions. But when you are in your late late 20s, and you exhibit all the qualities of being a rebel, it makes your parents deeply concerned.

At that time, it was difficult for me to understand the reason for their worry. Because I was happily living in my house with my family, without any restrictions and financially independent too. There were no rules and regulations for me. I was a free bird!

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Why would anyone want to leave all this and start over again?

LOVE!!!

Love is the only thing that can make you do things you never wanted to do. Agree?

Yet, love is often overrated! It has to be unconditional to last forever, much like a mother’s love for her child.

But can you really find such love in a marriage?

What are your thoughts on this?

Did I find my true love?

Read Part 2 here – Finding My Jeevansathi on Jeevansathi dot com

This post was created for the Blogaberry Creative (Monthly) Challenge.

This blog post is also part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Bohemian Bibliophile.

The post Finding Love in Arranged Marriage: 9 Years of Love and Laughter | Part 1 appeared first on Growing With Nemit.