A few thoughts on Bal Vivah...
Seeing Nandini's marriage brought back all the memories of my family members and their marriage stories.
I heard that my great- great grand mother was married when she was just like Nandini - just a 7 months old baby - they used to tell us how she was trying to picking up those yellow rice grains which were showered on her and putting them in her mouth while the wedding was happening she was married off to a 14 year old boy.
Despite the 14 year age difference the marriage seems to have survived even if it happened at such a young age since they produced my great grand father😆They apparently had a fairly long married life.I heard that this great great grand mother was quite a force to reckon with in those days.
When the turn came to my great grand father he was married off when he was in his late teens but was widowed and left with a small baby when he was 28 - he was married off to my great grand mother who was just 12 years old.Because they felt they needed someone to look after the baby.
My great grand mother became mother at the age of 13/14 They too have had a fairly log married life. I have memories of my great grand mother - she was quite a strong woman with her own opinions and used to be quite active outside the home and community affairs and used to be very much into church related social services and all that.
So no great traumatic events came off Bal Vivah in my family and anyways it got wiped off from my family all thanks to exposure to the world which had different culture - namely british culture - since Andhra was ruled by british back in those days and also because of education. Embracing Christianity didn't really stop them from following the age old tradition but simple moving along with times and education had changed the mindsets gradually over generations.
When it came to my grandmothers - both were over 18 when they got married and they were trained as teachers.
If we actually look at this progress it happened over centuries and over generations aided by exposure to different cultures and education
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Now coming to Bal Vivah tradition that is prevalent in Rajasthan- somebody made a post why people are giving such importance to those marriage rituals which involved two children whne it is not even considered as a marriage in legal sense.
But the issue - for them it is marrage - for all we know the success rate and failure rate may be just about same as marriages between consenting adults.
So for them it is just a way of life - How can they be stopped by using police force and arresting them?
Shouldn't the change come from within? Shouldn't the be exposed to the world outside through media and education to make them aware that things are different now instead of forcing them to stop the practice?
They had shown Anandi educating girls - then senior citizens in the society just to increase their awareness about the way the world is moving. Shouldn't that be the approach if they decide to take Bal Vivah another time for Ver 2.0 they made Nandini a victim of this tradition.Which I think is the right approach.
Why would these people take it calmly if you tell them bluntly that they are barbaric to be indulging in this tradition.?It will only make them resistant to ways of the current world.
I hope they use more subtle but persistent tracks to deal with this. They can use the drama in Nandini's life for sure since she already caught the attention of the viewers but hope Anandi adapts the same method she has done before - Drive to educate people to increase awareness of today's world.
Cricket
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
