Participants at the Dampatya Sammelan. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Nov. 11: Inter-personal communication skills, human values, honesty, commitment and fidelity are vital ingredients to make the perfect recipe of married life.

These were the major highlights at a pre-marriage preparation course that concluded today at Social Development Centre. The three-day session had begun last Friday.

The participants were told that couples should refrain from being self-centred and respect each other’s freedom as beyond these spiritual and moral obligations exist too.

The session is conducted thrice a year, mainly in August, November and December. A total of 105 prospective couples, who would tie the nuptial knot after Christmas, had come down from Orissa, Delhi, Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Simdega, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.

The would-be couples had to attend theory classes, while in the practical sessions, they had to express their feelings, values and commitments.

“The main purpose is to know each other as the person must know with whom they would be leading their entire life. This is the best time for prospective partners feeling uncomfortable to part ways in order to avoid tension in their married life,” said a couple from Simdega, Rita Tigga and Sunil Toppo.

Amar Kandulna and Anima Ekka, a couple from Orissa, said they used to have a lot of altercations in their married life. “But the session has completely changed our lives. While attending the session, the main point which we realised was to respect each other’s feelings and opinions,” the duo said.

Father Vincent Toppo, the main speaker at the programme, said in the present social milieu, families are breaking up due to the crumbling down of marital relations between the husbands and the wives. “Hence, before the marriage, we show the correct direction to the couples so that they do not face any problem in the future,” Toppo added.

Toppo added that they had begun the session in 1985 with just 22 couples.

“Gradually, the numbers have swelled. Before tying the knot, most youngsters want to attend such sessions to help lead them a happily married life,” Toppo said.

Toppo also organises such sessions for those who have been married for five years. “As our lives are constantly changing, we need to find out how couples have been leading their married lives,” he said.

However, Toppo added that even after attending the session, a few couples fail to live up to each other’s expe- ctations.

“We do get cases but that is negligible in number,” Toppo said.