Boy, girl and non desi love
When a man approaches a woman in India, the conversation usually begins with “I Love You” simply because the Indian male does not know any other way. In a patriarchal society this is how a male is brought up. Woman as a property of the husband and an object of marriage. India is a deep rooted patriarchal society.
What happens when you get two people married without them understanding each other’s compatibility. When one or both wake up, you have a family problem on your hands.
How do non Indians do it?
A girl at a young age is allowed to date with some strict rules. Considering the fact that dating is in pairs we also have the boys getting familiar with the idea of a woman choosing and it is perfectly OK to be something more than a friend to a girl.
A young woman can date as many men as she wants and there is no reason for her neighbours to raise eyebrows. Usually women in foreign countries, except for those who follow the patriarchal model, are focused on education and career. So dating usually goes to the back seat. Many times it gets totally neglected as women do not have the time at all.
There might come a day when she decides to prefer one man over others and the next step would be that she would seek him again and again for dating. That is usually called the part of going steady with someone. The initiative can be from the guy side or the gal side.
This time usually it is understood that you are allowed to date other people, but usually at this stage either one does not take the choice.
The next logical step is to officially label each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. Young people with raging hormones usually end up skipping many of these steps. But they are the steps nevertheless.
It would still be quite some time till they take the plunge. Maybe a career or job or simply some responsibility which needs to be fulfilled. But it is only after due consideration will the man and woman will finally be the bride and bride groom living together. Or it might even be just a live-in relationship for some time. Also there is the option of moving in.
Get to know each other well before getting into the marriage trap.