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77% Of India Prefers Arranged Marriages
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 Shocking isn't it?
In recent times, we've been exposed to so much hype and hoopla over 'love marriage' - with Bollywood movies showing it as the norm, with our parents and grandparents lamenting the nature of things today, with our peers and colleagues all flitting in and out of love - that surely there must be some mistake???
77% of Indians cannot possibly be in favour of the arranged marriage scenario, can they?
Yes, they can. In the India Today AC Neilsen-ORG-MARG survey, 80% of all surveyed respondents had an arranged marriage. Not only that, but 77% of the people surveyed actually preferred an arranged match to a love one.
Of course, what constitutes an arranged marriage is very different today from what it used to be years ago.
The new 'arranged marriage'...
Traditionally, an arranged marriage was one where the 'elders' arranged a match between their progeny without asking or caring about the latter's preferences. So, you had husband and wife who 'saw' each other for the first time on their 'suhaag raat '. These matches may still happen in some extremely rural parts of the country but the cases are rare.
Then, you have the more common form of arranged marriage - the 'dekho ' system. Some members of the boy's family meet the girl and judge her suitability, some members of the girl's family see the boy and decide if he is a worthy groom and eventually - boy and girl meet in a roomful of relatives and decide if they are 'ok' with each other.
More liberal families actually 'allow' the boy and girl to meet each other privately a few times (they still don't call it dating) before asking them to decide.
Then, there is the new norm of arranging for a suitable partner online. So you have either the boy or girl, or some close relative of theirs, logging on to popular matrimonial websites like Shaadi.com, listing down their preferences and requirements and scanning through hundreds and thousands of bio-datas looking for the perfect match.
Once a prospective match is short listed, the round of introductions, conversations, chats, emails and meetings begins. And hopefully, if all falls into place, a match is arranged.
The best part is - given the tremendous success of matrimonial websites (Shaadi.com has matched 801,764 people and still counting...) - this system actually works and is super popular with GenX. The newer breed of arranged marriage aficionados like the idea that they can follow tradition but maintain some degree of privacy and choice in the entire selection process. The elders appreciate that they can be part of the selection process and have some say in it rather than be presented with fait accompli. A win-win situation all round.
Is it any wonder then, that arranged marriages continue to survive - and thrive - in India?
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