Fad, Trend or Self-love?

We have heard of women getting married to trees, poles, and animals. We also know of monogamy (one partner), bigamy (more than two partners), polygamy (multiple partners), endogamy (marriage within one clan/tribe), and exogamy (marriage outside the clan/tribe). The internet is full of quirky facts and trivia on different types of “gamy”. Sologamy is the latest buzzword on the internet now. A wedding with oneself!  

If any of you have read the recent news (in India), you would have read about the upcoming sologamy wedding of a 24-year-old girl Kshama Bindu from Gujarat on 11 June 2022. After reading this, I bet most of you have researched this term on every search engine you know of. So, sologamy is getting married to oneself. This bride here basically decided to marry herself because she loves the idea of being a bride but not getting married to anyone. Her parents wholeheartedly agreed and supported her too.

My first reaction to reading about this was a loud guffaw! The reason is it looks like a publicity stunt and a kind of double-speak too. In a typical Indian setup, it will be referred to as “wanting to savour sweets without chewing them”. Total hypocrisy when you say you don’t like traditions but want the whole traditional finery and brouhaha of a big, fat Indian marriage. Some may call it self-love too. At the cost of being called a cynic, I call it less of self-love and more of a show-off.

But as they say, it is individual choices and at the end of the day, her life and her journey. So, June 11 will be marked in history as the first sologamy wedding to take place in India. In her complete finery, she will sit in a mandap (pandal) where the priest will read the holy Sanskrit chants like in any normal wedding, minus the groom of course. Once the wedding is solemnized, she intends to go on a two-week honeymoon as well (aka Queen style). So, here’s wishing her a happy married life ahead!

Of late, there is a surge of awareness among people about relationships, red flags in them, marriages, and self-love. Everyone is either reading or watching content about it on social media, in messages, songs, and even in movies. The Millennials as they are called or the 2K generation, are on a spree to undo what the earlier generations did in their marriages or family life. Whether it is marriage or bringing up children, going unconventional is the trend – rather than doing things differently! It doesn’t any longer bother them to remain single and live life on their terms and conditions. Society isn’t bothersome anymore.

Solo travels, honeymoons, and shopping have already been trending for a while. One more has been added to the list. Now, ‘sologamy’ is taking the concept of solo to newer heights!

Follow Priya Rajendran