'Err'anged Marriage

An incredible concept and makes me always go "woo". Agreed, in societies(like India) where 'dating', singles bars do not exist, arranged marriages perform a very similar function, as they bring together 2 people who otherwise might not have met.

But at what cost?

What about compatibility between the 2- How can 2 people who have just met make a decision(or someone else make decision for them) to live forever?

What about choice? The father of a friend of mine told him - the girl we will find for you should be tall, fair,beautiful, well educated, from the same caste and should be from Delhi. SO much for
choice eh - my friend had a maximum 30 women from the whole wide world to choose from and yes he succumbed to the pressure.

What about freedom? what if the person you are going to be with doesn't like the fact that you drink, or smoke, or go out too much? we all know that liking someone and living together with that person are two different things, small things start to irritate you.

A fact which most Indians at least will tell you is that arranged marriages have very low divorce rates - its true as neither the man nor the woman knows quite what to expect, and there is a lot of understandable trepidation on both sides. However, this often works out well because things turn out to be better than expected.- But is that really so? isn't it just a big compromise.

here is an advert of a matrimonial site: "It's about getting married. Click here! Try it! "

OMG

Almost all the people in my family are arranged married, apart from a few who were considered as rebels and even now if the topic comes, some people make there feelings pretty clear about what they think of it.

While growing up in this environment i have come to accept this fact, i still d not think i understand it completely . i still feel in arranged marriages a girl is often "advertised", and funny enough even if the guy is average looking, he wants "beyonce" to be his wife..its been a vary debatable topic and i have had many a conversation about it with many people. At some point i thought arranged marriages will slowly die down, but on the contrary they have gained in popularity. so many "matrimonial websites" in India minting millions is a proof of that.

I am in India next month and i know i will get some 'proposals', though i have instructed my mother not to indulge in all this, but its not so much her thing but the 'caring' relatives that influence her.sure enough my market value since i am a 'foreign return' has quadrupled now.

God save me.