What does the increasing trend of divorces imply?

I may be wrong here...but my gut feel is that its a healthy trend. I see arnd a lot of couples who continue to just 'exist' in the relationship inspite of not getting along well. Many a times its because of the usual "what will the society think" argument...! A divorce is not a bad thing alltogether. More often than not..its just a mismatch between the two...! Maybe they didnt think through all the elements before getting together...or whatever the case...If the society now opens up and accepts them in the rightful manner...i think its a healthy direction...what say...?

I am inclined to agree with you Ankur. I cant speak for the entire society, but when i look back at my own experience i realize that whatever happened was my way of expressing my independence. yes..i could have acted like several other women in this country and continued to live life as if nothing had happened, but i chose not to. and thankfully i had the support of my family and friends.

This is an interesting thread - yes, I would believe that  asserting a choice is progressive. Saying "no I don't want to be married to you" takes courage, conviction and then some. There is a framework out there (parents, relatives, friends who will align with you or otherwise) that needs to be disbanded, you are getting out of your comfort zone and that requires conviction and strength - so I think it is progressive. At the same time, we might be interested in examining the origins of this instituion called marriage, and in the little reading that I have done - I figure it has got a lot to do with property rights. On the flip side, given the institutional and social frameworks in place, it is hard to bring up kids without marriage. Therein lies the stress and the trauma of disbanding a marriage - and then there are financial implications. It is a tough one but a progressive one - all the best everyone on this thread.

I do recall my society and politics course that talked about the importance of property rights. Never thought that marriage would have a link with that...thanks for the interesting perspective...

I was looking at it more from a personality change in the society. Financial implications set aside. But i agree with Ankur, interesting side to the storyladies - anyone? am i only one here?

As always Ruchi... you seem to be the only lady on all the discussion sites....  :)Hey people an intresting piece of information, in the Netherlands only 20% of the couples get married.....  and marriage means a Formal Contract written by lawyers and registerd in the government house...Religous marriages are not recognised by the government....  Its not marriage thats essential for raising a child, its the love of a couple for each other and the focus on the child and the participation of both in providing the Left Brain and Right brain stimuli....In fact raising a kid in a bad marriage can be the worst thing you could do to the child...

Works similar to the property rights arguments placed above. Thanks for sharing the info sukumar

Marriage is a mutual contract and one must break it immediately the moment he or she realizes they are incompatible rather than trying to patch up or so. Every individual has his/her identity and personality that has to be maintained. A chance to mortgage one's personality and individuality is never supported.

What happens when after all those years of happy marriage..and children ...then all of a sudden we realise we were not good for each other at all... Ruchi and tagline I agree....we all are here for one reason or other....failure in our relationship of course... is the world changing along with global warming !!!! This is the era of sms n one liners ...not looking at your partner and saying sorry n meaning it. Mo

Love the way you put it Mo...this is the era of sms...!! I recall reading somewhere that 10 years back people called up and asked "how are you"...and now they call and ask "where are you" Its a concept change in society...and it will continue...maybe global warming will stop one day...! :) Happy new year everyone