Elopements. The very word smacks of passion, desperation, and courage and cowardice at the same time. There's at least one in every family, somewhere. A potent source of chagrin for the parents and the immediate families of the runaways, news of an elopement is manna for the gossip-mongers of the society, having that element of forbidden love in them. Some of these runaway marriages have fairytale endings, some of them fall apart or are even aborted, and some turn into nightmares. While we may laugh and wipe a tear at the romance of it, no parent wants to see his/her son and daughter take such a step. So why does it happen? Flip to the centre to find out…