LETTER IN THE HANS INDIA DATED 13TH NOVEMEBER 2022
The small news piece on director Atlee who had positive things to say about marriage which made him into a ‘man from a boy’ was heartening. For the contemporary generation, the perception of marriage is becoming extremely negative. Either, they are preferring to remain alone or are coming out of marriages at differences which to a generation back seem trivial. Either there is a fear or a disrespect towards the institution of marriage as a building block for a healthy society. The alarming trend against marriage is visible in western countries. In the USA, paradoxically with increasing welfare policies where the state takes the role of a father, nearly 45% of children in Black communities are born out of marriage to a single mother. Typically, in western countries, one cannot ask the name of the father in a newborn unit. This is one of the first explicit instructions for fresh doctors from India. Thankfully, the situation is not so bad in India. However, in the urban sphere and amongst the educated, questioning marriage and its need to have children seem to be on the rise. There might be endless debates on the need for marriage but statistically it is clear that both in males and females born of single mothers in the US, the social and civil problems like drug addiction, unemployment, violence is higher. So, the news item was nice and it would be appreciative if some of our celebrities make more positive statements about marriage. This generation tends to look at them more as role models than their ‘old generation’ parents!
RANDOM MUSINGS 