Getting married in India

Getting married in India is one of the most important topics. People don’t get married coz they felt in love but due to economical reasons. And how does it work. Well, let’s say in the age of around 22 the parents consider their daughter to be in the age of marriage. Either, they already know a family having a handsome son who meets the approval of the daughter’s parents or they search for a suitable bridegroom on the Internet or in the newspaper. There you will find a lot of information about the castes, the education, and the salary drawn by future bridegroom. You won’t find any word about the appearance as it is of no importance. In the next step they get in touch with each other and arrange a meeting. Maybe, the opportunity to spend some minutes in private will be given to the young couple so that they become acquainted at least a little bit. Depending on the parents, it could be that the young couple is getting engaged already in the same evening, while the girl has no chance to contradict to the engagement. My colleague even told me that her mother would commit suicide if she didn’t get married with the guy she had chosen. The colleague burst into tears while she was telling me this story. All she wanted was to spend the life with the guy she felt in love – but she couldn’t, her mother extorted her. Why do they do that? It is a waste of life, coz once they are married there will be no way back as divorces would be a disgrace for the family. I am sure, a lot of matrimony are worth getting divorced but aren’t. Getting married then is quite simple. All which has to done is to arrange two witnesses confirming the marriage. That’s all. It is up to the bride and bridegroom whether they register their marriage at the registry office or not. To get informed what kind of clothes the bride and bridegroom in general wear for weddings, have a look at the chapter “Typical Indian clothes”. The guy’s parents arrange the marriage. If they need money for the marriage, they ask the girl’s parents for the same and they will get it. A considerable amount will be meant for the girl’s trousseau. It is not necessary to mention that this money actually is meant for the husband and his convenience. The marriage itself lasts several days including al lot of feasting of course. After the marriage, often times the bride moves to the guy’s parents house where she will be from now in captivity more or less. Still, in a lot of families it is like that although it changes more and more, what will mean that the married couple could stay by themselves but in short distance to the parents’ house. The bride considers the bridegroom to be a kind of god. Whatever he says has to be done by her. The woman is responsible for the education of the children and the whole household whereas the man earns the money which then will be spent by the woman. The wife always has to show respect towards the husband whereas this doesn’t apply to the husband himself.