I'm reading a rather interesting book (its quite wonderful, in fact) called 'Cutting for Stone' by Abraham Verghese. It is set in Ethiopia in the 50s and 60s and is a poignant story of Indian doctors serving the cause of humanity in a mission hospital, mistakenly pronounced the 'Missing' hospital. Its an amazing piece of fiction which i am currently enjoying.
There is something in the book that struck me. The guy, called Ghosh, is crazy about this Tam brahm lady doctor, Hema, who appears to be unaware of his love for her. At any rate, she treats him no better than a tiresome old colleague who needs to be humoured and tolerated. Until she has a dear death expereince (her plane almost crashes) and the thing that flashes before her eyes is that she should marry this guy who is so crazy about her. Well, due to certain other more complicated circumstances she does marry the guy but that, too, for a period of just one year. And the contract is renewable every year with the agreement of both parties. Now, it is not seriously a one-year contract and it never gets officially renewed every year, however it is a most interesting thought. Firstly i think it is great that two people can be so sure of each other that they can decide to take their marriage just a year at a time and not worry about the other partner saying ta-ta goodbye at the end of the year. Also they work at their marriage day after day and ultimately year after year to ensure it is doing well and the parties remain interested in renewal. I think it brings a certain freshness with each new contract, rather than any staleness a long marriage may bring. The two characters in the book actually woo each other before each contract expires (at least the man is shown to do so ;-)). In fact one year, several years after their 'marriage', when Ghosh is put in jail by Emperor Haile Selassie for being part of a secessionist movement, he sends a jovial message to Hema, his love, 'Tell my bride i'll be back a little later than usual to renew our annual contract, but i'm hoping she will still be game.'
Now i am not for one moment advocating 1-year contracts for marriages and i am well aware that it will probably happen only between the pages of a book or between the ears of the highly romantic writer who thought this up. However as an idea, its interesting, especially considering the trouble marriages seem to be in generally these days. Society may just find this to be another way to go forward - who knows. And then we will be celebrating 25th and 50th contract renewals and not anniversaries! Would things get better or worse? Think about it.
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