Unfinished Fairytales and Broken Engagements

Nisha JamVwal explores the most common reasons for breakups and what couples can do to avoid these heartbreaks.

Kate was imagining a fairy-tale wedding and was all set with her gown, jewellery et all, when it broke off unceremoniously. She’s shattered. I can imagine how bad it must be because I am sad about it too. A broken engagement is after all, shattered dreams of romance, of a happy life together, a home, children and all that they had looked forward to.

Kate is warm, giving and as ‘nice’ as they come. She's also a smiling, positive, fun person. But things "didn't work out," she says. That sums up the disconnect that they encountered through the run up to the wedding. When engagements are made, two young people are moving in a space of upbeat happiness and anticipation to a loving future together- whether the choice is made by them or arranged by their families.

So why does a thing that starts on a happy celebratory note have to meander to a sour end with the parties resorting to that final ultimatum. A breaking off of the whole association. In India, speaking on a general note, it’s quite often about differences of expectations regarding the wedding. The arrangements, the levels of grandeur, the material exchanges, more about the girl's side giving an outright dowry or other material gifts of considerable value that the grooms side might pass off with a casual “we are not asking, you are giving everything to your beloved daughter! How pretty she looks in that silver BMW!" and such.