Topic > Issue of Arranged Marriages in India

According to the article "Planning a Wedding in India", written by Serena Nanda, almost all marriages in India are arranged. The bride and groom might have a short conversation before getting married, but most of the time the bride and groom don't meet until the wedding. In fact, dating or interacting with the opposite sex is non-existent in India. Nanda, an American, believed that arranged marriages were wrong. However, her young and educated Indian informant believes that it is perfectly right for her Indian parents to choose her husband for her. Nanda's informant thinks that she is too inexperienced to choose the right husband and thinks that without the stress and pressure on herself in looking for the right husband she will be able to enjoy life better. However, despite these reasons, Nanda was not convinced that arranged marriages were good not only for her informant, but for anyone. Nanda asked her informant how she could like a man she didn't personally know or like. Her informant replied that she would like the man if he were good. Although an American would find arranged marriages “wrong” and “strange,” according to the article, in India arranged marriages are in some sense “necessary” in the sense that every important resource (examples include jobs, homes, social life ) are acquired through family ties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essaySix years after working with this particular informant, Nanda traveled to Bombay, a modern city in India. There she reviewed the arranged marriage process for her friend's son. It seemed to Nanda that the family's reputation was the most important, just as the appearance and character of the potential bride/groom were considered equally important when arranging weddings. Nanda's friend also did not want too independent girls to marry her son, because too independent girls would not be suitable to live with a joint family. However, Nanda's friend's anxiety is not excessive. After all, in India, if a family chose a wrong wife for their son, it would not only be bad for the son's wife and child, but would also ruin the family's reputation. Divorce is also very rare and looked down upon. However, luckily, Nanda managed to find a perfect match for her friend's son. The couple were fashion designers who lived in the countryside and dreamed of starting their fashion career in a modern city like Bombay. It may sound ethnocentric, but I have no problem with arranged marriages, because I grew up with this mentality. , because arranged marriages are very common in my Vietnamese culture. However, I think the informants in the article were very critical. I didn't think it was right or nice that Nanda's friend rejected a girl because she was "fat" and because she "wears glasses". I also didn't like that the family didn't like the very educated girl because she was too "independent". I think that a girl who is too independent would be a problem for a joint family, but I also think that a married couple should be able to live alone. But Indian culture might be different. I was also shocked when Nanda said that in India a guy who worked for the army was looked down upon and would probably have a harder time finding a wife. While this is somewhat true in the US, I think the military in the US is overall respected and a guy in the military would have about the same chance of finding a wife as a guy who wasn't in the military. While I liked this article, it never really explained whether i.