Conditions apply

It was only recently I accompanied a friend to a wedding exhibition, a place where would-bes could get everything required for a happily-ever-after under one roof.u00a0 From a designer trousseau to the most exotic honeymoon package, we found almost everything on her list, except the last requirement a lawyer who could draw up her pre-nuptial agreement! She didn't want much, just a few dos and don'ts put down on paper, to avoid future complications.

I was left speechless and her mother aghast, but my high-earning banker friend was not perturbed. A pre-nup was as necessary as a marriage certificate, she insisted.

Surprisingly, her doctor fiancu00e9 didn't find any fault with his bride-to-be's obsession with the dreaded D word even before the D-Day dhamaka. "It's better we have details about finances worked out before we sign on the dotted line. I don't want to sour things if we do separate someday," he said. I could only wonder if the phrase till death do us part had outlived its warranty.

After extensive Googling and some hushed consultations with friends, we did locate a lawyer who specialised in divorces and pre-nuptial agreements. Only that he termed them a more pragmatic, and even more dramatic, 'marriage contracts'.

Worse, what he revealed about such marriage contracts left my more conservative mind reeling u2014 they are common and steadily on the rise. "One in 10 couples has one, though many wouldn't want their families to know," he said. And I thought pre-nups were a fetish with Hollywood, where divorces are a rule and not an exception!

Thankfully for my romantic heart, these agreements are not governed by Indian marriage laws but by contract rules. "Romance doesn't rule marriages, and not every man wants to be fooled like Paul McCartney," said my friend's fiancu00e9. For the uninitiated, the former Beatle had to hand over a quarter of his fortune to wife of just four years Heather Mills just because he avoided the 'unromantic' pre-nup.

However, if the lawyer is to be believed, Indian couples are keeping the contacts financially simple, no mention of wifely compensation for having kids, aka Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. And no fixed rule about the number of days of 'satisfying' sex in a month, like Madonna's alleged detailed pre-nup.

But if the demon has arrived, it will take over and very soon my mom's favorite punch line for my dad, "Tell me, what have you given me in so many years of marriage?" will no longer be a family joke!

And wedding fairs will have stalls for marriage contract lawyers and love will be put down in black and white, sealed by the court.