Mad world

Marriage makes men out of boys. But then, what do we call this alliance?

A 100-year-old Ugandan man married a 12-year old girl after an affair that lasted for months--reference to "This Odd World" in the issue of The Jakarta Post dated July 13, 1995. Under Ugandan laws, anyone marrying girls under 18 years is punishable by law to life imprisonment.

Was the old man's affair a platonic love? Or love at first "sight," given his advanced age? Did his state of health allow him to wander into this realm of state of "affairs?" Old age is usually considered winter but for our friend, it is spring all over again!

Lack of interest is the bane of old age. By keeping up continued interest in younger things, this person proves that he would never be old.

Surely, he must have been positive of his future longevity to know he would enjoy conjugal happiness. If so, he is fit to enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the most positive thinker in the world.

Or could he have ventured into the affair (followed by marriage), hoping that he might, after all, die soon enough, and thus, would really not have to go through the possible full life sentence?

In my final reckoning, most probably, he was hopeful that the Ugandan Police would not drag such a very old man to court for breaching the law. In that case, I would suggest that the Ugandan government should seriously consider amending their laws to apply the average age of a couple so that the culprits are denied the sympathy factor.

Anyway, they are happily married. Apparently, the old man is happy and the girl is married.

D. CHANDRAMOULI

Jakarta