Two people meet, fall in love, get married – that is ‘Marriage’. But since that used to be frowned upon in our society and since that was not considered ‘normal’, we gave it a prefix and it came to be known as ‘Love Marriage’.

What was always ‘normal’ in our society was families deciding who you spend the rest of your lives with based on an array of factors – an array that excluded one minor detail, Love. It has been assumed that love would just follow, and even if it didn’t, it was okay. Since this was essentially an arranged affair, this widely accepted form of marriage came to be known as ‘Arranged Marriage’.

Now my question is very simple. What the hell is ‘Love-cum-Arranged Marriage’ that quite a lot of people keep boasting about with a smug grin on their faces? Either you find your partner and have a ‘Love Marriage’. Or you let others find you a partner and have an ‘Arranged Marriage’. There is no way you can mix it up by adding a conjunction in the middle, even if it is a one-sided love story or you are both extremely ‘sanskaari’ in having your parents believe that they were the ones who set you two up. Capisce?

Also published on Medium.