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A Faceless Marriage
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 You don't need a solid, worldly reason to fall in love. And then, when it comes to marriage, sometimes love is the only reason you need. But if and when you get the urge to get out of holy matrimony, ladies and gentleman, you better have a damn good reason to do so.
In India, the law can't stop you from getting married if both of you are of legal age. But it can definitely stop or stall your intention to separate. The Honourable Court would ask you all kinds of questions, and if, only if it is satisfied with the answers, you will be allowed to break the marital vows.
Now imagine a scenario, where a woman goes to court wanting to leave her husband of thirty years just because he committed the great sin of lifting her veil and seeing her face when she was asleep.
In India, the judge would send her back to her husband and even advise them to seek psychiatric help. But there are places in this world, where such an action on the husband's part would instantly earn him an unwanted bachelorhood.
Not kidding. This is what happened recently in a south western part of Saudi Arabia, where in a certain community the man is not allowed to see his wife's face, come what may. If you missed the strange news, here it is in a nutshell.
The said couple had been married for more than three decades and the man followed the old, agreed upon tradition. He fathered children with the woman, whose face he never saw. But then one day, curiosity got better of him and he lifted the ever-present veil from the face of his sleeping wife.
In some other cultures, such a gesture on a man's part may be considered romantic, but not where the incident took place. The fifty-year-old woman was so shocked and angry that she left the house and demanded a divorce. The man begged for forgiveness and promised never to commit such a ghastly crime again. The pious lady took pity on the old man and returned.
In somewhat a similar case, a few years back, when the man threatened to marry another woman if his wife didn't lift her veil, the lady suggested he marry her friend who didn't follow the tradition. According to her, it was a more bearable course of action.
One can feel surprised, but can't be judgmental about such things. Different communities have different codes of conduct and morality.
Different strokes for different folks…
The tradition of not calling the spouse by his or her name is still very common in India. Sometimes men may break the rule but the woman would never speak her husband's name loudly. This can be seen even in urban, educated families.
Indians take their traditions wherever they go. I came across one such family in a Gulf country. It is a very rich and well-respected family. The parents were happy when the son married a girl of their choice. They didn't mind their daughter-in-law wearing jeans and driving fast cars. In fact the in-laws wanted her to be a part of their large social circle. There was just one hitch. They felt embarrassed when the young bride called her husband by his name.
For a few days they tried to ignore it but then the old lady literally begged the daughter-in-law not to do this, at least not in front of them. She comes from a family where husband and wife didn't even talk with each other in the presence of their elders. Being away from the country has freed them of such restrictions, but as she herself says, some changes are hard to digest. Women like her feel that the intimacy between a man and his woman should be restricted to the bedroom.
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