In India, arranged marriages are the norm .... in the West we might even call them forced marriages, but in any event, the idea of a 'love match' is almost totally rejected, and its just a happy circumstance if the 'happy couple' happen to be actually in love or even friendly. Cross caste weddings are even rarer, and certainly never for love.
The list of hurdles for a half way decent middle class marriage to take place includes these sort of check list items:
Anyway, back to the story, in India there are a bunch, businessmen and journalists in the main, called the 'Love Commandos', who began operating 10 years ago across many Indian cities, who are a small movement to protect lovers from harassment by both Hindu and Muslim hard-liners.
Disappointingly from the image, their name conjures up, in reality they are a rather portly middle aged group of 'angels', who offer practical help to lovers who contact them, including limited temporary shelter and help with civil marriages, but they are restricted by financial concerns. Rescuing lovers is both expensive and difficult. For example operations in just one city costs up to $5,000 for the month, and operating funds are always a concern.
Of course, getting married is often just the start of the problems for these couples, who usually can never go back to their families or former districts for fear of extreme violence (including murder), which is the same in the both the UK and West amongst many Asian families.
In the West we often say that its 'Love makes the world go round' .... well that's not true for many parts of it, but in India at least they can say that its the 'Love Commandos' who help love make the world go round.
The list of hurdles for a half way decent middle class marriage to take place includes these sort of check list items:
- Caste
- Complexion / Colour
- Horoscope
- Height
- Character
- Qualifications
- Family
- Eating / Dietary habits
- Wealth
- Health
Anyway, back to the story, in India there are a bunch, businessmen and journalists in the main, called the 'Love Commandos', who began operating 10 years ago across many Indian cities, who are a small movement to protect lovers from harassment by both Hindu and Muslim hard-liners.
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| How We Might Imagine 'The Love Commandos' |
Disappointingly from the image, their name conjures up, in reality they are a rather portly middle aged group of 'angels', who offer practical help to lovers who contact them, including limited temporary shelter and help with civil marriages, but they are restricted by financial concerns. Rescuing lovers is both expensive and difficult. For example operations in just one city costs up to $5,000 for the month, and operating funds are always a concern.
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| Some Of The Real Love Commandos |
Of course, getting married is often just the start of the problems for these couples, who usually can never go back to their families or former districts for fear of extreme violence (including murder), which is the same in the both the UK and West amongst many Asian families.
In the West we often say that its 'Love makes the world go round' .... well that's not true for many parts of it, but in India at least they can say that its the 'Love Commandos' who help love make the world go round.
