CAN LOVE BE ARRANGED?

Our world is brimful with millions of individuals, all being distinctive in one or the other respect but somewhere, each and every soul roving in quest of one thing that is love.
The force that binds and drives the world forward, the reason behind the existence of many, the sentiment on which myriads have attempted to write and the rebel that brazenly refuses to be caged in words, yes, we are talking about the four-letter word that has the power to bring a smile to the saddest of faces.
Could someone ever think of arranging the most sacrosanct emotion that is called love? And if not, then what are those dating apps, matrimonial sites and newspaper ads for? Are they hoaxes?
Arranged marriages are perhaps the most common phenomena that are experienced by choice by many in India. It won’t be wrong to assert that most of these marriages are successful. We may ask that what if in those ‘successful’ arranged marriages, people don’t find love at all? Perhaps it’s just an agreement in which two persons perpetually compromise in order to sustain the relationship because they don’t want to part ways. Reluctance to part ways can be due to many reasons and maybe the list doesn’t include being in love. But then what is love?
Is love not when two different individuals who might be poles apart in behavior endeavor to achieve the happiness of each other? Is love not when the husband considers it his duty to skip office when the wife is unwell? Is love not when the wife waits for the husband to come home and then have dinner with him? Why are we obsessed with the picture of love that movies portray? Why do we desire to experience the love that Romeo and Juliet did?
Can Shakespeare really set a parameter for something as inexplicable as love? Or can anyone really discern a good love story from a not so good one? Isn’t respect and care for each other enough for a couple to be called in love? Are these not the things that people look for over dating/matrimonial sites or when they go for blind dates? If love is forsooth what Shakespeare or Titanic showcases it as, then of course, it cannot be arranged.
But if you feel mutual understanding, respect and care for one another are all that is necessary to pass a lifetime of contentment, then yes, the kind of life you are in pursuit of, can be arranged.

{ -Illustration by @flowsofly (instagram) }