Arranged marriage

People who know me well, know my intense anomisoty towards arranged marriage. Now this is partly due to my irreverence no doubt. Theres not many institutions or people I revere and any such institution that inspires such reverence immediately makes me susipicious.

Its not just the fact that I am letting my parents decide who I marry that makes me hate arranged marriage.

The major argument I have against arranged mariages is the fact that it maintains the status quo, its just another weapon to maintain the status quo and the fact that is it couched in terms of respect and honor  makes it easier for the status quo to be maintained.

A look at the matrimonial web sites should make my point clear. Everyone's profile lists what their parents do and as if that weren't enough, some go on to list what their siblings do. Now this seems harmless enough, nevermind the fact that what my parents do for a living wouldn't affect my married life.

Listing out your parents occupation is an indirect way of letting the suitors know how wealthy your family is. Now when marriages are arranged the one question that gers asked apart from the inevitable caste question is , if the suitor is from a good family.

 Now what makes a good family?  Being of the same caste is not enough, it is essential that you family not have been in any trouble and it is most important that your family better not be poor. So the first things people look for in arranged marriages is caste and economic status.

As expected, not many look outside their caste or below their economic status. One dare not look for a girl not so rich cos ur not getting a lot of dowry then. 

Talking about dowry, Indian matrimonial sites, atleast tamilmatrimony.com and its relatives have a field where you list how many brothers or sisters you have and if they are married? Now why would someone need this information? Does my sibling's marital state affect my married life in any way?

Again the reason one gets asked this question is purely economical. If you're a guy and you have an unmarried sister, tradition dictates  that you take care of the wedding or atleast chip in with some part of the wedding costs. Of course if ur a girl and have sister/s to be married off, that only means a smaller slice of the dowry pie.