The Great Indian Match-Mak(fix)ing !!!!

We Indians love our culture and festivals are an integral part of our culture. Holi, Diwali, Dushera,and many more. We have festivals for each season and every region has its share of festivals.But there is one occasion that beats the glitz of all these festivals and that is "MARRIAGE ".Well, marriages happen all over the world with much glitter,preparation and fanfare. But, this the "GREAT INDIAN ARRANGED MARRIAGE" I'm talking about.

The parents of the bride and groom introduce them to each other and not the vice-verse like it  happens else where in the world. Most of the weddings here happen like this, so that is not special too.The special part here are the "aunties and uncles" who aide the parents of the bride and groom to help find a suitable match for the sons /daughters. Well , you might rubbish this off as an old custom or practice.But mind you, these match makers belong to the techie age. Armed with an iPhone and the world wide web they are out to create the perfect Matches or to put it in their words "Fix matches"(pun intended )

The alert areas include marriage functions,social gatherings, birthday parties, holy places of worship and even condolence ceremonies.They size up every pretty girl(Girls they find pretty !!) and mentally match them to guys depending on their prettiness quotient. The prettiness quotient to the Guy's Bank balance. In some cases the vice - verse happens too. The girl's father's bank balance to  handsomeness of the guy.Their tastes, preferences, compatibility or their interest in marriage is hardly a point of consideration.

The hunt then begins for the parents of the "Thus imagined perfect couple".If they already know each other then, the straight away get down to the business. If the parents don't seem to recall the relation they don't mind a rather long stroll down the family hierarchy tree till their relation is found in one of the distant branches.The iPhone makers, even in their wildest fancies wouldn't have imagined its use to 'FIX' marriages. Connecting people is a different story altogether. This is all about forced connections (forcing people to connect).

Talk about arranging a video chat of the prospective couple or running a character check by scanning their social networking profiles, the tech savvy match makers seems to do it all.Their success rates are pretty high too, leaving many big matrimonial sites behind.Barring a few black sheep of the family ( I top my family list ), the other young boys and girls seem to find them very friendly too. Unlike the few, who find them an intrusion in their private lives.And before we know the match is fixed.They help out even with the preparations. It is a different story their suite is always the best one in the whole hotel.The most important aspect, they don't charge anything at all. All they want is a good future for the kids (the bride and groom).

After a marriage,the aunties and uncles  move on with equal ease to fix someone else's wedding.  Doing good deeds and cementing their place in heaven. Such a noble thought !!! The "match makers " are here to stay and in a big way !!!

P.S: hoping this won't stand out as a black mark in my marriage profile !! :P