I have a friend who teaches yoga. She is beautiful, smart and slim. There is another friend who is a beautician who is very pretty and fit. In fact, when I think about it, I know so many women who are very pretty. Yet, there is  something common in these women. All of them are either single mothers or have been abandoned by their husbands or are divorced.

In our society, the physical appearance of a girl/woman holds about 95% weightage when evaluating her for a prospective marriage/live in partner. She needs to be pretty but she needs to also have a figure which is 36-24-36. In many households, the thinness (please note- not the fitness) is a major concern for the mothers. They ensure that their girls eat less so that they can find a good groom for themselves. The boys who come to ‘see’ them are only concerned about how their wives look. ‘Makeup’ helps a woman to look good if she is has a good figure. Her education is just a good saleable point during the marriage negotiation. After marriage, that does not hold as much importance.

So, I am just wondering what is it that makes a marriage work? Is it the prettiness? Is it the thinness? Why is it that good looking women are leading single lives? Why are girls made to believe that all they need to do is to wait pretty for their knights who will rescue them and carry them to their respective kingdoms where they will live happily ever after…..only to be wakened to the truth that there is no recipe for ever lasting love…or is there?