Happily ever after-----

Credits roll and the hero rides with his heroine into the sunset on his faithful steed. Really? Cinderella finally marries the Prince and they live happily ever after, or do they? Does she drives him crazy with her obsessive compulsive cleaning? Does sleeping beauty drive her guy mad, insisting on sleeping at a certain hour every night? Does Rapunzel want only salads; is Snow White afraid to go to the beach for fear of blemishing her skin?

I guess it's for the best that in our love stories the hero and heroine always die at the end. I mean if Heer and Ranjha had actually married, pretty soon Heer would be shouting at Ranjha for spending too much time in the fields and not giving her any attention; Ranjha would be retorting, "Well you are no belle from the fields yourself; look what all that butter has done to your thighs."

Love, weddings and marriage: what is it all really? Is is for real or just ideals we have been made to believe to keep the human race going. Many folks argue how can you live with the same person for their whole life? Seeing the same face gets boring, right? And in a few years you'll know each other like the back of your hand, and will be completing each others' sentences.

So much hype is created around weddings: the wedding day has to be perfect; the bride looking resplendent in the most expensive clothes one can buy. Bejeweled like a Princess, she will be the "it" factor at the occasion. I remember finding weddings to be magical when young, and brides to me were the most beautiful creatures. Lots of money spent on food and clothes; it is after all the start of a new beginning.

There is a difference, however, between the wedding and marriage: wedding is a fantastic fantasy; marriage is real. Marriage is the bond you will share with a special person for the rest of your life. Why do people marry? This is a question I've often asked myself. For starters, it's nice to know that someone knows you like the back of his hand, he knows what you like and what you don't; what color your tooth brush is; someone who loves you even when he comes home and sees the house in complete disarray, dirty dishes in the sink and you sitting writing your blog.

It's also nice to know their idiosyncrasies and rituals, the fact that no matter how much salt you put in a dish he will always add soy sauce to it :D It's nice to have someone to talk to in the middle of the night when you cannot fall asleep; to share ridiculous food facts with; to fight over why he cannot solve Turing's halting problem (because in life all problems can be solved, only if you try hard enough, right?). It certainly is a wonderful feeling to have that someone we can trust completely, in front of whom we do not need to be anyone other than ourselves.

Being married is like living with your best friend for ever and ever, like a perpetual high, and feels simply amazing when we love someone and are loved. And that in it self is GGGRRREAT!