Marriage is an institution that is of utmost importance, especially in the Indian society. A typical feature of Indian marriage is that, here marriage happens between two families rather than two people. Here, once a girl is married, her identity changes, her ‘gotra’ changes, her surname changes. Surname that is such an essential part of a human identity is snatched away from her and a new identity is given to her, for which she is expected to be very happy. To a large extent, I always felt this is an effect of the male-dominated society. But once I was married, I felt somewhere, even we girls do so much of sacrifices, but at the end of the day if it can lead to a bigger, happier family, it is worth.
It was my brother-in-law’s marriage, and my husband was not around. The entire joint family of ours was in a festive mood. There was actually no reason for me to be happy, as my husband not around. But like a dutiful bhabi, I joined into the ‘rasams’ of the marriage. But the happiness, the satisfaction that I sensed to be a part of a new family was like never before. May be this was the preaching of my mom, love of the new family, that I comprehended the true meaning of the saying- “here marriage happens between two families”. This gorgeously green jute net saree, green being my mother’s favourite colour that was a gift from my mom became even brighter with the love of new extended family.