Arranged marraiage Vs Love marriage

Here i am contemplating about what i must be doing today. Studying or
not studying. After a movie, an hour of of spulrging, a snack of
nuts and listening to freedom by george michael on the idiot box, i
think we all know where this day is headed.
Now where does this much debated over topic come in?Yesterday, we hosted a dinner at home for some of my Mom and Dad's
friends from work. After a 4 day busy schedule at the conference held
in coimbatore, it was time to kick those medical shoes off and have a
darn good time! So,between the cleaning up of my room and the front
room i was getting the load on the big Abhi-Ash bolly-good wedding and
the full lowdown on the ramblings of the die hard fanatic
whats-her-name Jhanvi Kapoor or is it Naina?.
What a day it was! A big bolly wedding with all the whos who attending
it, a Big B look alike, a fanatic, and other look alikes hogging their
few minutes of the limelight.
Yes, so back to the big dinner. I met Janet, who's a Doctor of medical
education from England,Ralph and Debbie from America also in the same
field, Dr Rashmi, Dr Rita,Dr Bill and Dr Avinash. Some of them were more Indian than most Indians i've seen!
It was very nice talking to them. Americans have a very good sense of
humour i must say. And dry humour at that. All those opinions of a
nasty American society were soon kicked out of my mind like a football
racing towards the goal. They were very entertaining, very polite, very
passionate about their work, very humble people. They had respect for
not only people from their own community but also other commnities. The
driver who had accompanied them around told us that they had gotten
very close to all of them and they were all sad that they were leaving.
Now, thats what you call breaking the language barrier.
My mom and dad had an arranged marriage and they were all ears when it
was the time for story telling. Stories of how they got married and
how my siblings and i came into existence :) and how we settled here.
Then came the wedding photos and a whole lot of ooohs and aaahs.
Some of them had gone shopping and it was time for show and tell!
Vibrant Sarees with a lot of detailed prints and beautiful rustic
colours and jewellery. They were so amused by everything. And what i
loved the most was that they gave you so much personal attention.
So mum was telling them about the traditions in North India about how
they would choose a good girl for their son. They apparently would send
a fish to the girl's home and she would have to clean it properly and
send it back! Another way was that she would have to make those pappadams (forgot
what they call it in NOrth India.. the roasted ones) without burning
them!
So they asked sis and i if we were prepared for that! ha ha.. She told
them those customs were pretty ancient these days and we all sighed a
big sigh of relief and had a good laugh! :)
So are you up for an arranged marriage?
1. Secure
2. Merging of two families
3. Having faith in your parents decision
4. Adjusting with the man/ woman in your life

Or Love marriage?
1. Risky.
2. May lead to breaking up a family.
3. May lead to disrespecting your parents.
4. Responsiblity for your actions
5. Being under scrutiny

Mix of both?
Convenient. Everybodys happy.

In both cases,the extreme case, i think, is the worst. Otherwise i
respect both marriages.
Extreme case:
1)Desperately in love. Can't live without him/her. You've decided to
elope without the consent of your parents. Now thats crap.Total
disrespect.You've lived your entire life with your parents.They've
brought you up. And now you're acting smart and acting like you're an
adult. Absolute nonsense. Big stab in the back for the parents if you
ask me.

2) Arranged to marry some big shot,nasty snob with loads of money but
nothing else worth talking about. Pretty sad.

3) Getting married like before you can blink, and getting money/dowry
involved and the fact that you havent seen each other.

All you unmarried people out there, Please stand firm about not
accepting dowry or giving dowry. Lets banish this together. We should
because we can. It'll do you good.
Being dropped at the altar can be heart breaking. I know someone who
went through that. I don't think anyone should go through that.I'll
leave it to God.
Peace.