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What you don't know about dating and relationships!

April 9, 2008
It's summertime and love is in the air. Young couples can be seen strolling seaside promenades, holding hands in the street and getting lovey-dovey in parks.

It's all good, right? Wrong! While most (especially those who are single and longing to mingle) assume that relationships are all about hearts and roses and other saccharine sweetness, there are a lot of factors you should take into account when it comes to commitment.

Here, we present a few things you didn't know about dating and relationships!

You can't live on love and fresh air alone!

Several youngsters get carried away when in love and in a relationship. The practicality of a situation rarely strikes a love-struck teenager and if the parents oppose the match, defiance and threats of moving out or eloping ensue. Young inexperienced couples think that their romance can take on the world and they will live happily ever after, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Even if you can afford it, expensive gifts, nights on the town and excessive spending are all good when you're in college and spending your parents' cash -- once you settle into a job and face other expenses, however, it's a different ballgame.

Says 26-year-old Sheetal Malik*, who works in a Delhi-based production house, "My boyfriend Siddharth* and I have been dating since college and plan to get married in 2010. It's easy to see how our spending habits have been curbed over the years. Back when we were teenagers, he was always plying me with expensive gifts, taking me out to fancy restaurants and generally indulging me to the hilt. Ever since we both started working and we are saving up for a house of our own, all spending is kept down to a minimum; we simply cannot ask our parents for cash anymore, it's not something either of us is comfortable with. In fact, I often argue with him about our expenses -- our social life is almost non-existent now and I don't think we need to cut corners to such an extent that we're not enjoying ourselves anymore!"

*Names have been changed to protect privacy.
Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Spice up your relationship!

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