Last December, I made the eight thousand mile trip to the subcontinent to meet his family, hopeful as ever to impress my in-laws-to-be, only to be told that our Vedic horoscopes were not a good match for marriage. In other words: astrology ended my relationship.
In honor of the 140th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth, we've culled together 4 ways to practice, in your love life, what he preached throughout his life. As Indians take a national holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the politician and spiritual leader's birth, we examine several quotes for which he's best known. Turns out, they serve as good relationship advice, too.
<< PREVIOUS EPISODE | NEXT EPISODE >> Liz Tuccillo, Sex and the City writer and co-author of He's Just Not That Into You, finds out that in India, before an arranged marriage people check out their intended's horoscope, and poorly allinged stars are grounds for calling off the union. Want to know what happens next? Watch all the India webisodes from Liz Tuccillo's "How To Be Single" series! VIDEO: Single In India: Arranged Marriage For All? VIDEO: Single in India: First Marriage, Then Love VIDEO: Single in India: Marriage Is A Group Effort
The New York Times' Modern Love had a rather charming essay yesterday ("An Arranged Marriage, Then And Now") where the narrator discusses his situation in the same cool, detached Western way in which we discuss all of our bodily exchanges. He (Farahad Zama) is a "well-brought-up boy" of Indian descent who went the traditional route and agreed to marry his neighbor's daughter after only spending 45 minutes with her.I Hope My Daughter Marries... When she was presented to him, he describes her as "cute" (cute enough, we presume) and "nodded in approval." It all sounds horribly romantic. Almost in the same vain as us Westerners nod in approval to whomever we're seated next at our neighborhood bar once it reaches witching hour. So they married, have two sons, and the arrangement has (dare we say) worked splendidly. Do they disagree? Sure. Do they have their differences? Absolutely. But if given a second shot at it, would the narrator have done anything differently? No.
Elizabeth Hurley insists that the rumors of marital discord between herself and Arun Nayer are just rumors. Their relationship did get off to a rocky start with Hurley committing a few faux pas against Indian customs. Plus cross-cultural romance does have some inherent problems. But she says they're doing great, so we'll just have to take her word for it.
An Indian man has given his wife the ultimate 'thank you.' He secretly taped them having sex and then threatened to release the tape unless her dowry was increased 20-fold. Nothing says 'I love you' like extortion.
But I have to say, based on what I’ve heard from other cultures, arranged marriages seem to work for some. Take this CNN article on arranged marriages going high-tech. I had planned to write about the trend, but I was more impressed with the insight the article provided.
In the endless search for the ultimate online dating site (tough job, huh?), we came dangerously close to perfection with BharatMatrimony.com. The Financial Times profiled the site this week, offering a favorable review—and we couldn’t agree more. Now, this is a niche site, dedicated to Indian match-matching (sorry, rest of the world), but it should serve as a model for other dating sites. (And brick-and-mortars: The company has more than 100 walk-in centers for those who aren’t so computer-savvy.)
