Most Picklers have been on, or at least heard of, Shaadi.com. It is a matrimonial site, mainly for South Asians, though there is no bar on anyone joining. Often it is friends or relatives who register someone on the site. The site allows for a great deal of specificity, including Manglik/Kula Dosham (to do with astrology), and complexion (hence ‘wheatish’ as a descriptor).

Now Sarfraz Manzoor has examined Shaadi.com in order to look at its background, success stories, and failures:

“The search to find one’s life partner is not easy, but it is arguably harder for second-generation British Asians, burdened by their parents’ expectations but looking for more than marriage to a stranger. I was struck by how pragmatic the people I spoke to were in their ambitions. There was much talk about marriage, but little talk of romance; the notion that love was maddeningly unpredictable, that it could strike and make the most unlikely couples deliriously happy, carried little resonance. They were interested in solidity and stability, and hoped that by choosing someone similar in background and faith there was more chance of finding someone to share one’s life.”

I never knew that the website was founded by the Mittal clan. What emerges from Safroz Mazoor’s piece is mostly a tale of disappointment, albeit with a few successes. I personally think that the website is a good idea, as it must give certain people more choice then they otherwise would have, even though it is far from perfect.

(Hat-Tip: Amrit)