You know something’s really wrong with the US economy when not even the “local” girls want to marry American men!
Ineligible Bachelors: Indian Men Living in U.S. Strike Out
The Wall Street Journal article points out that:
Vikas Marwaha would normally be considered a good catch by Indian parents seeking a husband for their daughter. The 27-year-old software engineer earns $80,000 to $100,000 a year and comes from a family “of doctors and engineers,” according to his profile on a matrimonial Web site.
But Mr. Marwaha works for a start-up Internet phone company in San Francisco. And because the U.S. economy is wobbly, that’s a problem. Many Indian parents now are balking at sending their daughters to the U.S. to marry.
Check out this interactive “Indian Singles” ad at the journal!
Until recently, overseas candidates would quickly elicit 10 to 15 responses from young women, says Smita Seth, 55, owner of Manpasand Marriage Bureau in Ahmedabad. But in the past few months, she has had to coax parents to even consider overseas grooms; they prefer men from their own towns instead.
In order to find a suitable bride, many Non-Resident Indian (N.R.I.) men leave their successful US jobs, try to find suitable jobs at home and begin the search for a bride, anew… where they’re being confronted with the fact that its pretty hard these days to find a “bride who is smart, fluent in English, and ‘simultaneously, docile in the house’.”
I wonder how other bachelors from other cultures worldwide are coping… the potential brides too! Someone should do a study on this… it seems that the general trend is reversing. People are leaving the US now, instead of flocking to it!
The reason? Pretty simple actually… as the Mighty Sparrow succinctly put it in one of his classic calypsoes:
“No Money, No Love”
Peace and Rice,
jw
PS: Here’s one N.R.I. male who shouldn’t have any problem finding himself a bride… :)
I want to wish you all the best in your new job, man! 8)
Sparrow is the very best!
LOL@ “…smart, fluent in English, and ’simultaneously, docile in the house’”
The Calypso King of the World!
That’s a direct quote from the article. It made me chuckle… :-)
The Indian woman of today is definitely not cast in the same mold her mai and her nani were!
Economic development impacting culture. India’s tech boom has brought more jobs and increased salaries (even amidst worldwide economic depression) to the regular joe and jane schmoes that would have not had the chance 10 years ago. Women are working more, making their own money, getting more independent, leaving home before marriage, appreciating the finer things and able to pay for it themselves. I’m sure this has changed the game for Indians as a whole finding mates!
Oh yeah… they’ve set new rules for the new millennium!
The traditional culture is still very strong though… and the kidnapping of young Indian/Pakistani girls from the US and the UK, to be “married off” in I/P via arranged marriages to relatives desirous of getting their citizenship is still very prevalent.
Court jails parents for kidnapping daughter: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/107785.stm
Escaping a forced marriage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series6/forced_marriages.shtml