There is a good reason why our motherland is described as a mai-baap state rather than a 'nanny' one. The parental nod - or 'nahin!' - is seen as the last flag for any enterprise, individual agency be damned. So, it comes as little surprise that the Gujarat government is considering making parental consent mandatory for couples seeking to tie the knot of their own volition, a.k.a. 'love marriage'. In a way, this is the state's willingness to come to terms with more and more young people opting out of marriage arranged by their families. If you can't beat them, control them. Thus the plan for a parental stamp that Heer-Ranjha would have found difficult to dodge.