The ‘Sweet’ Bachelorhood!

Not being married seems quite an achievement once we cross the age of 26-27, even when parents of many of us have become quite supporting and relaxed in terms of letting us stretch our bachelorhood until marriage engulfs us into an altogether new life. This feeling of achievement is further consolidated when our close friends (I must say ‘especially’ our close friends) who once used to sit beside us in classrooms or live with us in our hostel rooms or play with us on streets, start getting married in front of us. There we are, making videos of their elaborate garland exchange ceremony and yawning away in the hall where they take wows to be together with someone for the rest of their life. What a change!

Having said the above, I am quite happy attending a friend’s wedding. I get a box of sweets at the end, I get to reunite with my college friends on the occasion, and I get to dance in most of them. Speaking of happiness, I am happy for them too. Now they won’t be thrown out of the race of renting an apartment just because they are not tied up in the holy matrimony. Now they have a license to rent a flat in any gated society of Gurgaon/Bangalore/Mumbai/any other city on Indian map.

Most of my friends, of course including me, are at the dreading point where maximum discussions within the group ultimately get directed towards weddings. Even when a discussion begins with a newly released movie, it somehow magically ends up on how one of us can’t go to watch it, as he/she has to attend a wedding in the evening. Even when we start talking about the new budget or taxation reforms released in the morning, we somehow end up complaining about our salaries and in turn, about the fact that how meagre it is to support a family after wedding. Seems as if ‘Wedding’ itself is trying to make a point by being the point of discussion at every point!

Attending weddings of two of my very good friends in recent past made me realise how different it feels to see a friend standing there, being a part of those big ceremonies which I always thought only mature adults are a part of. And Boom, there it hit me- An inner voice screamed-You too are an adult now! Not sure how this realisation will grow in the next few years with many such more occasions coming my way.  

However, it’s both a harsh reality (for some) and a sweet dream (for others) to visualise oneself getting married someday. I am sure my recently married friends, and I have quite a few now, will be the best judge of how life changes, and what all to look forward to.

As of now, I guess we bachelors will keep discussing how impossible the idea of marriage seems, and how we are slowly trying to increase the grace period we have received from our parents, post which marriage will become a non-negotiable reality.

Cheers to the still bachelors and the amazing couples!