The cattle market of arranged marriages - 11 Jan 10

Ramona and I were talking again about one of those topics which are very interesting especially to visitors who come to India from another country: arranged marriage. It is interesting because it is so completely different and also old-fashioned. So we were talking about how parents choose a partner for their daughter, how many questions are asked to the parents of the boy and the other way around and on how many factors it then depends if the match is made or not.

While we were talking like that Ramona said that this is just like on a cattle market. And she is right, the parents find a possible match and talk with the other side’s parents. Sometimes it comes to a meeting, the parents of the boy for example come to meet the girl. Then there they are to have a look at her, how does she look like, how fair is her skin, how tall is she, does she have any flaw? If they don’t find anything wrong, they may agree that their son marries her but imagine if they find her too dark? Or that she is wearing wrong clothes, doesn’t walk nicely or has any other ‘mistake’? Well, then it is just as if they are there for buying an animal, they don’t take it, the wedding will not take place.

But they cannot see inside! How much do they know of the girl just after a meeting of one hour? They don’t know even one bit of her soul. It is a crazy concept, I have written several times about it and it is just sad to see this.