Wonder how many hearts were broken to read that yet another Bollywood actress tied the knot yesterday after Kareena did a few weeks ago.
At the outset, I begin with a disclaimer that marriage is someones personal affair & rightful prerogative on which no one else has the right to criticize.
I am commenting on the increasing trend, particularly by actors to get hooked to much married men (& women). This actress got married yesterday to a man who has earlier married two times & this is the third wife. Its also true of Kareena, who married an already married Saif, not withstanding the huge age difference between them.
So I have a few questions popping up too frequently in my mind;
Is bountiful bank balance an automatic licence to get married again and again and also to break the law?
We know of an Ex Karnataka CM who lives with 2 wives against the Indian law, so are the rich and powerful excused from the law of this land. Is the Indian law and constitution applicable only to the average Indian middle class?
We Indians, unlike the Westerners are known for our family values & traditions, for our valuable 'institution' that we term as 'marriage' which even now is sacrosanct for many of us. So is this institution slowly getting diluted & is money the sole factor?
The increasing cases of divorce & infidelity in Indians demonstrates a gradual decay of spiritual & moral value systems. Its only physical pleasure, materialism & money that is on top of many minds, a dangerous trend showing up its ugliness more and more, so who is responsible for this?
Are Films/ TV soaps one of the greatest influences for an average Indian to change wives ( and husbands) frequently? By this, what moral footprints are we leaving for the next generations to come by?
I guess we need to leave this wild goose money chase to Bollywood actors & actresses (and other Flim stars). Friends, I'm afraid today's decline of social, moral & ethical standards are mostly and largely due to an influence of cinema & television. We have given up reading books with the greater penetration of the internet, so is the www another cause?
We used to frequently hear of men changing their wives and vice- versa in countries like the US, but is this trend slowly catching up in a decorous India too? Don't we understand that disharmony in many families is due to a loss of good & rightful living standards?
The rich can do anything.... it is they who have spoiled (and are denigrating) the social fabric of our nation. Be it politicians, Actors, Industrialists, many of them have murky & smelly personal lives.
We the middle & lower middle class of India need an awakening to arrest this growing trend of decay in moral & family standards. Lets not blacken our beautiful Indian value systems any further.
Critics may ask me... aren't Raj Kundra & Shilpa Shetty, Dharam & Hema and many others happy? Yes they may be. I am not here to enforce my thoughts on anyone in a perfect Indian democracy. They may also tell that its none of my business to comment on others personal life, so apologies in advance.
My only aim is to council our youth ... for them to understand the long term damage to their lives by emulating our film stars and others. It looks flashy outside, but ' all that glitters certainly isn't Gold' as an old saying tells us.
Let set aside religious & other influences aside & think hard for a few minutes as rational human beings... we can find answers.
Meanwhile, Happy married life to Vidya Balan!
