After the wedding

This new podcast begins where most love stories end - focusing on life after marriage and how people and relationships evolve
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

BENGALURU: Who doesn’t like a good love story? But while most tales end at the wedding of a happy couple, a new podcast shows us that the happily-ever-after is actually the starting point of a new story. Launched by city-based relationship coach Priyanka Bharadwaj, Behind The Scenes attempts to document the lives of couples who are happy in their marriage and unravel the making of healthy relationships.

“Growing up, we’ve listened to countless stories that end with meeting our soulmate, getting married and living happily ever after. But very little has been said about life after marriage. Naturally, people who’ve never been married have a limited understanding of what to expect when they get hitched - they’re either overly optimistic or thoroughly cynical. So, sometimes people can be grossly unprepared for the realities of a relationship,” says Bharadwaj, who is also the founder of M.B.A. (Marriage Broker Auntie).

Launched two months ago, the weekly podcast completed its seven- epi sode first season. Each episode featured a different married couple who talked about their relationship and marriage and how it evolved over the years and what remained unchanged.

“Since a lot of my work revolves around enabling people to make informed partner choices, I wanted to be able to create authentic literature on real marriages. So I partnered with a few friends and family who came forward with their stories for this series. As I started having these conversations, I also realized how valuable this series could be even for mar r ied couples,” says Bharadwaj.

Through the process of hosting this series and interacting with different couples, Bharadwaj has learned that every individual is unique, which, in turn, makes every couple unique as well.

“Despite knowing someone for years before you get married, you always learn something new about your partner, and a big part of relationships is about accepting and adapting to these changes, especially when you know that you want to be with each other,” she says. Another common factor was intentionality about making relationships work. “Life gets in the way over a period of time. Irrespective of how long you’ve been together, rituals like daily hugs, making time to have a cup of tea/coffee together or weekly date nights help in nurturing a relationship,” she adds.

Currently, Bharadwaj is in the process of identifying couples to feature in Season 2, tentatively slated to premiere in August. “In the new season, I hope to bring in more diversity in terms of the people I interview - how they met, where they live, what life-stage they are in, etc.” If you have a story to share for the podcast, reach out to hello@ marriagebrokerauntie.com

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The New Indian Express
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