Beauty and Stars
An interesting feature about Zodiac signs is that you can look them up from time to time and still find different and innovative nuances that catch your fancy. We tried to assemble some aspects with a view to take quick notes on their groups, based on the type of signs that they belong to; namely, Air, Water, Fire and Earth.

Make up for the Dreamday
You`ve got the best of dresses for your trousseau, the jewellery is in proper contrast with the wedding dress and the accessories are also perfect. But what about the makeup! The traditional look is the best bet for the bride and never goes out of season.

Honeymoon Essentials
Once the emotional and colorful stess of the wedding is over, it`s the time to relax for a couple. The couple come together either by love marriage or arranged, its important that they spend some seren time together away from the daily hustle bustle of the life and unwind before they start their life together.

Honeymoon and You
The best reason for a honeymoon is for the rest and relaxation. The rigors of wedding planning are one of the most stressful events in your life. The peace of mind that you will enjoy is worth every penny. A honeymoon is an important part of your wedding. You will need to rest and relax after all the planning that has gone into your wedding day.

Mehendi tips for the Bride
Applying of henna on the palms is called Mehendi. Henna is a natural product. Its leaves are dried and grounded to make the henna powder. Since it is a natural product, there are no known side effects. It usually takes many hours to get a good henna stain on the skin, and that stain is quite harmless.

Divorce in India
While we talk about marriage and its significance in the life, its important that we also discuss the intricacies of the separation as it`s a right provided to all men and women on different grounds to separate if the marriage is not considered happy. Though it is still looked upon as a social evil, the law permits a couple to seperat ways on mutual grounds.
While we talk about marriage and its significance in the life, its important that we also discuss the intricacies of the separation as it`s a right provided to all men and women on different grounds to separate if the marriage is not considered happy. Though it is still looked upon as a social evil, the law permits a couple to seperat ways on mutual grounds. Also Indian women have their own rights to file for a divorce if not treated well. Even though we observe that women are ill treated in our country in rural as well as urban areas of India; a very small percentage of women who initiate for separation. But more and more social activists and social agencies are creating awareness about the laws and rights available to women as well as men. While this is one side of the tale, there are also cases where the law is twisted and turned and misused by both men and women. However, we must discuss the otherside of the heavenly knot.

The Law

All major religions have their own laws which govern divorces within their own community, and separate regulations exist regarding divorce in interfaith marriages.

[Photo]Hindus, including Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, are governed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; Christians by the Indian Divorce Act, 1869; Parsis by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936; and Muslims by the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, which provides the grounds on which women can obtain a divorce, and the uncodified civil law. Civil marriages and inter-community marriages and divorces are governed by the Special Marriage Act, 1956 (Kapur and Cossman 101).

Other community specific legislation includes the Native Converts` Marriage Dissolution Act, 1866 that allows a Hindu to appeal for a divorce if a spouse converts to Christianity (Virdi 36-37).

Grounds for Divorce

In most Western nations, there are approximately 16 distinct reasons for which divorces are granted. In India, however, only five main reasons are generally accepted as sufficient grounds for divorce (Choudhary 90).

Adultery. While no formal definition of adultery exists, it does have "a fairly established meaning in matrimonial law" (Diwan 171), namely "the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married man or woman with a person other than the offender`s wife or husband" (Choudhary 91). While the law considers it valid grounds for either sex, adulterous women are "judged more harshly" than men (Kapur and Cossman 102). The various religious regulations a e not unanimous on this issue. The law regarding Hindus allows divorce to be granted on the grounds of infidelity of either husband or wife. The Christian law, however, would traditionally not have granted a divorce to a woman solely on the grounds of adultery. She would have had to prove another violation, such as cruelty (Kapur and Cossman 102-4). A recent Bombay High Court decision "recognised cruelty and desertion as independent grounds for the dissolution of a Christian marriage," striking down a section of the law that allowed for an unconstitutional distinction between the sexes (Raiker-Mhatre 1).

Desertion. The three main components of desertion are the "disruption of cohabitation, absence of just or reasonable cause and their combination throughout three years" before the abandoned spouse may petition for a divorce (Virdi 71). There also must be an obvious intent on the part of the offending spouse to remain permanently apart from the other. This statute also applies to cases in which a spouse has been heard from for at least seven years (Choudhary 91).

Cruelty. As with adultery, "the definition of the type of behavior that constitutes cruelty varies according to the gender of the petitioner" of the divorce. "Despite the fact that cruelty is often equally available to husbands and wives, the way in which the law is interpreted and applied suggests that women and men are evaluated by rather different standards" (Kapur and Cossman 105). This category includes both physical and mental abuse and neglect (Choudhary 91). A court decision made in early May 1997 made cruelty sufficient grounds for a Christian woman to obtain a; previously, the law required both adultery and cruelty to be proven. The national Indian Christian community seems to have embraced this judgment (Raikar-Mhatre 1-2).

Impotency. This refers to the physical inability of the couple to consummate the marriage (Choudhary 91) or the refusal by one spouse to do so (Diwan 136). Some cases have established that sterility can be construed to mean non-consummation if the other partner is not aware of the condition before the marriage (Diwan 139).

Chronic Disease. Both mental and physical illnesses are included in this category, as well as sexually transmitted diseases (Choudhary 92). Not all religions recognize identical diseases as grounds for divorce. Christians and Parsis do not allow divorce for a sexually transmitted disease or leprosy while the other communities do (Diwan 204-5).

Consequences of Divorce

[Photo]Economic. There is great disparity between the economic ramifications of divorce between men and women. Men remain relatively unaffected while women, especially those with children, have difficulty "providing food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their children." The government in urban areas usually provides some form of public assistance to single mothers, but this service is not fully taken advantage of because most do not know of its existence (Amato 210). Often a woman is not able to rely on her family for support because many parents "feel they have discharged their obligations to a daughter by arranging her marriage and providing a dowry." Dowries are not returned after a divorce. Also, due to the social stigma of divorce, women find it difficult to remarry and usually attempt to establish an independent household (Amato 211).

Social. While India feels that one should have the right to divorce, it is still a highly stigmatizing action. Women are looked upon more harshly than men in this regard. There continue to be segments of Indian society that feel divorce is never an option, regardless of how abusive or adulterous the husband may be which adds to the greater disapproval for women. A divorced woman often will return to her family, but may not be wholeheartedly welcomed. She puts, especially if she has children, an economic burden on her family and is often given lowly household tasks to perform. There is also the risk that a divorced woman`s presence would ward off possible marriages for other daughters within the household. Unavoidably, the overall status of the family and household are lowered by having a divorcee living with amongst them. A woman`s class and caste are a major factor in her acceptance back into society. Women from higher classes tend to have an easier time than middle or lower class women in returning to the social order after a divorce. An exception to this model is the extreme bottom of the society who have experienced little rebuff from peers after a divorce. This results from their already atypical status in society (Amato 212-4).

Today, in India both divorce and remarriage are completely legal, whereas polygamy and polyandry are both criminal offenses, punishable by law.

Divorce was never associated with an increase in the emotional well-being of unhappily married spouses. Divorce did not make unhappily married spouses personally happier, or reduce depression, or increase personal mastery, or self-esteem, even after controlling for race, income, education, age, gender, employment status, and the presence of children in the home.By ending a strained marriage, divorce relieves some sources of emotional distress, and may remove the threat of harm from a dangerous partner. At the same time divorce can create new sources of distress, from financial troubles to new relationship problems.