Of Marriages and Divorces

Yesterday, I was discussing the age old tradition of marriage with my friend. We were comparing the Indian marriages with those of the western world where on an average, the event would be the 5th wedding for the bride and 6th one for the groom. In India, one looks at marriage as a life-long wedlock. Come rain or shine, they are "supposed" to sail through. If not for anything , atleast for their children's sake. So what happens ? Generation after generation people stop living for themselves and SACRIFICE their life's ambitions. Their sole aim is to ensure the well-being of their kids. Of course, I am not attributing the same to every household. But the Indian society by and large lives by this diktat. But contrast this with the westerners. They live their lives by their own terms. They don't sacrifice/compromise their own freedom for the sake of their children's well-being. I don't mean to say that they don't love their progeny. They do care for them, but they don't think that getting a divorce would have an adverse effect on their child. One explanation for this contrasting behavior in both these societies would be the empowerment of the fairer sex. A woman in India depends on her husband for her livelihood. ( Atleast it used to be that way). So the thought of a divorce would send shivers down her spine. Unfortunately, the same fact has been brutally exploited by the male race for centuries.But her western counterpart was well-educated and had the potential to earn her livelihood. Slowly but surely, the Indian woman is breaking the shackles which bound her for ages. And even though my good friend laments that the Indian society is getting westernised going by the increasing number of divorces, I believe that we can a learn a few lessons from the Western society.