NEW DELHI, June 9: On the face of it, it does not make any sense, but Gujarat-based 24-year old woman Kshama Bindu may have given a momentum to a new trend, “sologamy,” a new coinage meaning marrying oneself.
In Bindu’s wedding rituals on Thursday replete with Hindu marriage basics like “mehendi” and “haldi,” India saw its first “sologamy.” She got married to herself a few days ahead of the scheduled date of June 11 to avoid any controversy after a BJP leader opposed her wedding and said she wouldn’t be allowed to marry in a temple.
After the wedding, she thanked everyone in a video message and said she was grateful for the support and encouragement. “I would like to thank everyone who has messaged me and congratulated me and gave me the power to fight for what I believed in,” she said on Facebook.
She had her own logic for pursuing the customary “marriage.” “Self-marriage is a commitment to be there for yourself and unconditional love for oneself. It’s also an act of self-acceptance. People marry someone they love. I love myself and hence, this wedding,” explained Kshama,
The ‘sologamy’ became a major talking point with politicians sharing their thoughts on such a wedding. A BJP leader said such marriages were against Hinduism and said Kshama wouldn’t be allowed to marry in a temple. Congress leader Milind Deora, on the other hand, called her marriage another example of ‘wokeness’, bordering on insanity. While the naysayers were many, she also got support from several quarters.
Replying to Deora, Mario da Penha, a PhD candidate in History at Rutgers University said: “We live in a country where women born under the influence of Mars must marry banana plants, peepal trees, dogs and clay pots so their negative influence is not transferred to their future husbands. If ‘wokeness’ is insanity, what do you call these customary practices?”
Kshama, a resident of Vadodara, who identifies herself as a bisexual person, did her graduation in Sociology and is currently working as Senior Recruitment Officer in a private company. Both her parents are engineers.
(Manas Dasgupta)