Click to play videoNew Delhi: It's marriage season and Shweta like any other young girl, loves to dream about the time she will tie the knot herself. Her family showed interest in several horoscopes but the answer from the boy's side has always been no. Because Shweta is Manglik.
"My parents are very worried because my options for marriage are very limited. I know that I may have to settle for second best," says Shweta.
Quite simply Manglik or Manglik Dosha means that Mars is is in the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, or twelfth house of her lunar chart.
Among Indians, this is believed to be devastating specially for women. According to superstitious belief, if a Manglik woman marries a non Manglik, her husband dies.
In some parts of India, such women are first married to a tree, a fruit or some times a dog, before they can marry a man. This way the so called curse is lifted.
But some astrologers say being Manglik is actually a sign of strength and not a curse.
Says astrologer Ashok Vasudev, "Women who are Manglik are very strong, aggressive, career oriented - and in a male dominated society such women are not wanted. There is no truth to to this that the man dies."
Adds another astrologer, Vijay Gupta, "In fact I would say it's a good thing to be Manglik. It means you're a strong woman. Mars or Mangal has nothing to do with death. Its Saturn one has to be scared of for that's the planet that is trouble, not Mars"
Before becoming an astrologer, Vijay Gupta had fallen in love with and married a girl called Chhaya. Years later when he turned to astrology, he was startled to find that Chhaya was a Manglik and he was not.
However, even as the stars stated rather emphatically that their marriage was doomed, it's been 31 years and they are still going strong.
"Our friends say we are the happiest couple they've seen," says Chhaya Gupta.
In the meanwhile, Shweta is willing her horoscope to change or at least, waiting for a level-headed man who would not believe in astrology and will marry her no matter what the stars say.
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