I just heard that a friend’s daughter, now approaching 50, is getting married shortly to a man some years older than her. She met her husband-to-be some time after her divorce, and a warm friendship grew between them over the years. They have now decided to celebrate her half century by getting married. Significantly, all her friends and family are very happy for her. This includes her daughter, now a married woman herself, who is delighted that her mother is getting a second chance at happiness.

Quite a difference from Pyar Mein Twist, a movie released a short time ago, in which a 40-plus man and woman are drawn to each other. Both have grown-up children who fail to understand their need for companionship. While their friendship becomes a cause of concern for everyone around, things become worse when they are frowned upon and taunted by their children.

I am sure there is some basis for the theme of this film. Yet, it seems ironic that the adverse reaction of the adult children to the friendship between their parents should be highlighted just when attitudes towards older people meeting and getting married have changed so dramatically in recent years. More and more older people are taking a second stab at marriage, either after being divorced or widowed, much to the delight of their families. I myself know of four couples in their fifties and sixties who, in the last five years, have tied the knot with the wholehearted blessing of parents, aunts, uncles and children.

It would seem that the days when acute family embarrassment attended such nuptials are finally over. If older couples now get married or just foster a friendship, they need feel no trepidation at having to face the disapproval of their families: these families clearly recognise the need for companionship in advancing years, and applaud the courage of those close to them seeking it.

The acceptance of relationships between older couples seems to be universal, if Mills and Boon, the world’s biggest publisher of romantic fiction, is to be taken as an indicator of changing attitudes! It’s aim now is to target older readers who are no longer interested in tales of young love, on the grounds that these older readers have both the time to read and the money to buy the books.

But if it, and other similar publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, have their eye on the bottomline, the fact remains that their new heroines are in their mid-forties and early fifties. The new formula to be followed in their books is: bereavement or divorce, its aftermath, the chance discovery of new love in the most unlikely of circumstances and a happy ending. All that we need to add in the Indian context is the delighted approval of family and friends!