Love knows no age?

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Friends, 'cougar' relationship is a new phrase catching up the news these days. It refers to a relationship where a woman is romantically involved with a much younger man and it was the theme of the 2009 super hit film 'Wake Up Sid'. Audiences loved watching Ranbir Kapoor falling in love with the older Konkona Sen Sharma and even thronged the theatres for it. This trend is not so uncommon in India. It has been around for some time now. Somebody has very rightly said love knows no age. The dynamics of marriage are changing rapidly and youngsters are experimenting with their lives. The phenomenon, whether people like it or not, is increasingly coming out in the open. In the past too, such relationships existed but were not talked about too much. Way back in 1967, Hollywood came out with its well-known classic 'The Graduate', where Anne Bancroft, an older woman, seduces a much younger man, played by Dustin Hoffman. And such experiments were not restricted to the celluloid. Quite a few Hollywood celebrities have had successful 'cougar' marriages and the recent example is Demi Moore who has enjoyed marital bliss with 15-year younger actor Ashton Kutcher. Other such couples are Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (12-year age gap), Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon (10-year age gap). Even pop diva Madonna, known for her experimental looks, tried it when she tied the knot with 10-year younger Guy Ritchie. But they separated. In India, the most publicized cougar couple was Saif Ali Khan who married Amrita Singh way back in 1991. She was 12 years older to him. Their marriage had raised a lot of eyebrows, with people questioning the compatibility and the big age-gap, but it lasted a good 12 years. In 2004 they got divorced. Even master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's wife Anjali Tendulkar is five years older to him whereas Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala has married seven years younger Samrat Dahal and choreographer-turned-director Farah Khan exchanged vows with eight-year younger Shirish Kunder. The age difference of a year or two doesn't even qualify for the term 'cougar', and there are many examples of such couples in the Hindi film industry - Bollywood actors like Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty have respectively married Abhishek Bachchan and Raj Kundra who are two years younger to them. Even legendary actress Nargis was a year older to her actor husband Sunil Dutt. Sometimes such marriages are seen by society as an attempt by a woman to have some fun in her life or by someone who wants to tame her partner and can do so by marrying a younger man. This psyche was beautifully portrayed by director Ajay Sinha in the popular television serial 'Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani', about a young photographer marrying a doctor who's 10 years older to him. Just as a woman would look for a father figure or fulfill her needs for protection in an older man, a man would look for a mother figure or fulfill his needs for tender care and love in an older woman. Moreover, a drastic shift in the financial status has made today's women independent and they enjoy the power to pick and choose their partners without worrying about age, money and caste. Women today, just like the men, are experimenting and are also sure enough of them to take such chances. In this whole discussion, we must not make it a feminist thing as it is as much a woman's choice as a man's. The younger man is also, at the same time, taking the decision to marry an older woman. DATA COLLECTED FROM YAHOONEWS. Here in our family, wife is generally younger than the husband; my wife is 7 years junior to me.So also my daughter in law, daughter are. [b]What about you and your place? Is cougar relationship common there? Please respond and share your valued opinion. Thanks in advance.[/b] Professor ‘*Bhuwan*’. . Cheers have a lucky day ahead.