Marriages of inconvenience: the remote Indian village cut off from love

In the heart of southern India, where dense forests eclipse the sun, the villagers of Jondalgatti have not celebrated a wedding in more than a decade.

The culprit, villagers say, is not tradition or fate, but the simple absence of a road.

Home to around 200 people, the tiny village in Karnataka state is now a place where eligible bachelors linger in limbo. Twenty young men, all of marrying age, have spent years searching for partners willing to brave the village’s isolation.

“Some youths have managed to have love marriages with women from other castes as they failed to secure suitable alliances from their caste, even after years of waiting,” said village resident Parashu Patil, as quoted by the Times of India. “Women and their parents directly avoid youths attached to Jondalgatti.”

In some cases, men have married widows – an option chosen out of necessity rather than choice.