Arranging the Love Marraige!!

Over the past few months, I have been interacting with a lot of people who are aspiring to get married- some of them even having got succesful in their aspiration, few of them stuck with dwindling decision, and some others still waiting!! One thing I have realised, that the matrimonial market catering to 'arranged marraiges' is a very vibrant one, and for someone with the time, energy & patience- doing a full fledged study and analyses can offer a lot of meat.

Time and again the matrimonial market has been classified into two segments by virtue of the way things are fixed up: Love marriage being one, Arranged marriage being the other. the percent of target population falling into each of these have quite varied over time. In recent times, with the former having gone up abruptly, the latter has been in immense pressure & has had a structural change in its very definition. The concept of love marraige has turned tables from 'loving the arranged marraige' to 'arranging the love marraige'. As I interacted with the segment aspiring to get married, I could feel that this metamorphisis is challenging the very definition of arranged marraige that I was brought up with.

The journey of 'loving the arranged marraige' relied on terms like compromise & adjustment, while the newer version trusts 'compatibility' as its forte. 'compatibility' is 'compatibility' and not compatibility, because some people of the newer generation ( like me) who are pretty conventional are finding it hard to understand the newer vocabulary. At this point of time, I cannot resist using this word, for the simple reason, that it is so much in vogue!!
Typical symptoms of the newer version are:

• The rampant availability of dating & marraige portals, where the emphasis is on mutually getting to know the prospective brides & grooms.
• Even marraiges that rely on parents' opinion dont see parents as the decision maker but a a fixer of blindates(so to say).
• The average age of marraige having gone up...the prospective brides & grooms prefer to wait much longer in search of 'compatibility'.
• The idea of 'going out' ( parties, hangouts, even office!!...where u r suppose to be working;)) to meet new people (ulterior motive being meeting people of the opposite sex).

I do find this whole business of testing 'compatibility' a little weird...but then every new generation has its own set of rules to offer, which the previous generation is a surprised spectator to.

Special appeal to all those who understand the term 'compatibility'...please come to my rescue...