Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@sayajeeinfotainment/Twitter/@ANI
Topics: World News, Sex and Relationships
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: World News, Sex and Relationships
An Indian woman has faced intense backlash for deciding to marry herself.
If humans had truly evolved, then we would have ditched the incessant desire and need we have to find love long ago.
One woman is certainly miles ahead of the rest of us.
Rather than waiting around aimlessly for Mr or Mrs Right, having her heart broken by different players or committing to the wrong person only to realise when it's too late, 24-year-old Kshama Bindu has revealed plans to make some vows to herself.
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However, the blogger and Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda sociology student's decision has been viewed as a controversial one by some social media users.
Bindu is expected to get hitched on 11 June to none other than herself.
The 24-year-old told news agency Press Trust of India: "At one point in my life, I realised that I don’t require a prince charming because I am my own queen.
"I want the wedding day, but not the next day. That is why I have decided to marry myself on 11 June."
The wedding will be a traditional Hindu celebration, including an important ritual known as the pheras, which means taking rounds around a sacred fire.
It will take place in Bindu's home state of Guiarat in the north-west of India.
Bindu will say vows and even have a honeymoon.
She explained: "I will dress up like a bride, take part in rituals, my friends will attend my wedding and then I will come back to my house instead of going with the groom."
The 24-year-old explained how 'unlike in the west, self marriages are not popular in India'.
She hopes in marrying herself she may 'start [a] trend and inspire others'.
"People may not like my idea. [But] I am confident that I am doing the right thing," she reflected.
The sologamy is potentially the country's first ever known case.
Bindu's family are set to attend the ceremony and have blessed her plans to marry herself.
She told the BBC her parents are 'very open-minded' and took her decision 'in their stride,' only checking that her decision was definitely made with her own happiness as its main goal.
However, the blogger has faced backlash on social media.
One Twitter user questioned what the 'point' is of Bindu marrying herself if she is 'so self-sufficient' and wants to 'break the stereotype'.
"Break the marriage stereotype too... But I guess then you won’t be able to make it to the news... all in the name of modernisation and publicity," they commented.
Some even questioned the legitimacy of marrying oneself in India.
Senior High Court Advocate Krishnakant Vakharia told PTI: "As per Indian laws, you cannot marry yourself.
"There has to be two persons in a marriage (sic). Sologamy is not legal."
Advocate Chandrakant Gupta said: "The Hindu Marriage Act uses the terminology ‘either of the spouse’, which simply means that there must be two persons to complete the marriage. Sologamy will never pass legal scrutiny."
However, despite some negative comments, Bindu also received messages of support.
One user said: "Cute how a country, where young girls are still forced to marry trees and animals for all sorts of superstitions, is judging her."
Bindu said she sees self-marriage as a 'deep act of self-acceptance' and a 'commitment to being there for yourself' and 'choosing the livelihood and lifestyle that will help you grow and blossom into the most alive, beautiful, and deeply happy person you can be'.
"[It's also] my way of showing that I’m accepting all the different parts of me, especially the parts of myself that I have tried to deny or disown such as my weaknesses – be they physical, mental or emotional," she added.
The 24-year-old concluded: "It's my decision to marry who I want - whether it's a man or a woman or myself. And by marrying myself, I want to normalise sologamy. I want to tell people that you come into the world alone and you leave it alone.
"So who can love you more than yourself? If you fall, it's you who are going to have to pick yourself up."
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