Do you know who is more annoying than the Trivago guy? It’s your rishtedaars asking you their all-time favourite question, “Beta, shaadi kab karoge?” It’s the single most annoying thing on earth, right?! And you don’t really know how to respond to that…
Meet Nikhil Malik, a 28-year-old music producer who was so tired of answering the question that he actually decided to do a fun shoot to shut ’em all up! “Getting older and with Indian relatives asking you if you’re with someone and when are you getting married is just exhausting. So why not tell them yes, I am with someone who I totally adore and want to spend the rest of my life with? Every family function, every dinner function, every lunch, every encounter with a relative… The first question is, ‘Oh, how’s your music?’ and then comes the next question,’When are you getting married?’ Thankfully, my parents are cool about it and they want me to do my thing and marry whenever the time is right!.” Nikhil shared.
Nikhil called up his childhood friend and photographer Bhumika Bhatia who then came up with the concept of #LoveYourself. “We brainstormed and came up with this fun shoot to shut every Indian relative’s mouth. We both believe that you don’t need to be with someone to make yourself happy, you can be happy on your own too! Also, this shoot was super impromptu, we got on a call, discussed the concept and were done within two hours the next day. All the uncle’s and aunties on their morning walk were staring at us while we were shooting. Least to say, it was totally worth it!” she shared.
For Nikhil, it was not just his relatives. It was also the crazy number of ‘just got married‘ status updates on his Facebook feed! The duo came up with the concept of self-marry as a reminder for people to love themselves more often and truly appreciate themselves for who they are.
For all the single but “marriageable” age people out there, here’s a piece of advice from Nikil. “Start playing music, make new friends, go see the world, invest in bitcoin, buy a speedboat, climb the great wall of China or just call up Bhumika and get yourself a photoshoot! Trust me it works!”
