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The Love Commandos

May 30, 2018

Most young Indians are still married off by their families. But more and more young people are rebelling against arranged marriages and falling in love across the boundaries of caste and religion.

https://p.dw.com/p/2ye05
Liebespaar in Indien
Image: DW

Forbidden love

Often the couples risk their lives when their relationships become known. They can get support from a New Delhi-based organization called Love Commandos.

The men of Love Commandos are the last hope for Indian couples that want to marry against the will of their parents. They offer the lovers shelter in their headquarters in New Delhi and protect them from angry relatives - sometimes with methods worthy of a spy film.

India is undergoing a cultural upheaval that is shaking the country’s caste-riven society to its core and tearing families apart. It is the struggle between two different notions of love - arranged marriage vs. marriage for love.

This report accompanies two couples on those different paths. Sahil and Dayita’s love has transcended caste boundaries. They met on Facebook and fled from Pune to Delhi because Dayita's parents wanted to marry her to another man.

Meanwhile, Khasish found his future wife Sheenu through a professional matchmaker. Marriage broker Geeta Gupta is convinced that arranged marriages last longer because they are not based merely on sexual attraction. He describes them as a seed planted by the parents and raised in the nourishing soil of the extended family. So while Khasish and Sheenu are showered with gifts, Dayita and Sahil fear for their future.

In India anyone who opposes their family is lost. There are no housing benefits and no social welfare - only a complex network of aunts and uncles, grandnieces and brothers-in-law that traditionally provides couples with jobs or an apartment. Does Dayita and Sahil’s love really stand a chance?

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