Netrimony?

Before economic liberalization in 1991, middlemen in India enjoyed a very good time in business. Many bureaucratic hurdles could be leapfrogged through the middleman. Licenses for new businesses or contracts could be accessed easily through them. License Raaj(era) was boom time for them. However, there is another very important area where middlemen have played a vital role- getting Indians married.
Marriages in India have always been a big family festival. Just like getting through red tape in bureaucracy, there are many hurdles for a man or woman from a conservative family to get married. The caste, financial status of the family, the advice of family astrologer, and most importantly the religion should be the same. Then, comes the point of whether or not the man or woman actually likes each other. The middleman makes it easy for both parties. He informs both parties with the information and arranges meetings for them. I know many such couples who have been living happily together for years through this process-the best example of which are my parents.
However, over the last decade, the middleman is slowly disappearing from the scene. So, how are Indians getting married then? Well, Indian youngsters are now choosing their life-partners by themselves. In a country where ‘dating’ is a cultural taboo, how do they manage to choose someone? Thanks to Netrimony, a term used to describe many Indian matrimonial websites where one can create a profile and filter his/her search according to his/her caste, salary, astrological sign, religion and many other options. Glancing through the list, one can decide on the life-partner with just a click. I wasn’t quite interested in it until three of my friends got married through it in the past year. Now, I had to dig into it because according to India’s common cultural norms, 24years is the ripe age to get married.
My friends exchanged their phone numbers and finished most of the work of middleman without a slightest hint to their parents. One of the couples even managed to meet each other. It was a remarkable achievement in the history of Indian marriages that a couple could meet before their parents see each other. Surprisingly, parents can also create a profile of their daughter or son on that website. So, chances are high that you may be on the web without your knowledge. I guess, it would have been a big privacy issue in the US. Some call it westernization, others call it 21st century Indianization, but one thing is clear that India is not only developing economically but also culturally.
I searched through couple of popular sites and was impressed to find really good results as compared to Facebook. After spending couple of more hours, I started to realize the similarity of it with the dating sites like match.com, honey.com etc. After all, one in eight American married couples met online according to one YouTube video. Though, the business model of shaadi.com, a popular Indian portal, may differ in many aspects from match.com, their target customers overlap. One obvious difference to me was match.com offered to find you love before marriage whereas shaadi.com also offered ‘marriage before love.’

What is Arranged-Love Marriage?

In India, in general if you are a girl between 20-25yrs with a college degree,then it is the ripe age to get married,or in case, you are modern (making use of your college degree, I mean earning) then you can buy more time. Similarly for guys, but they have to have some job along with above things.
Traditionally, before any marriage,the parents from both sides would inquire about each other's families through middle man and then sign the deal. There would be very little scope for the guy and the gal to know about each other. That's what is called arranged marriage. You know about your partner after you are married. I know many successful marriages happened this way.
But now at 24, it's my turn, I didn't realize it untill one of my friends got her Mr. Right though a Indian matrimonial websites. I was aware of such sites before, but I never showed interest in understanding their work until a close friend of mine found her finance.
Usually, it would be appalling to some of you, who believe in love or love at first sight. But thinking logically, I found that the probability of finding your love in the young section, between 20yrs -29yrs, of 3billion women population is very bleak. For an open minded Indian (that the term if you are peso-modern/educated)to find a his/her match in his/her caste becomes next to impossible.I came up with a number,200, that the number of girls I interacted in my life who were of same age as I was. Assume 10,000 gals to be the sample space of my true love, the p=.02 which also means that I need to get in touch with rest 9800 women before I turn 30.
It is not about defending or refuting anything about arranged marriage or love marriage but trying to understand how to make the best decision which may not be the right decision.
One of the things I found is that some open-minded parents are giving some space to their children in deciding their life partners. Based on the above calculated probability, it is very difficult for an average Indian guy to find a date in a country where 'SEX' is a taboo(I am not taking about you, who has girlfriend/boyfriend). Some may disagree with it but there is a general mentality in Indian males that a girlfriend can not be a wife.

The new concept is now ARRANGE LOVE. Parents, who have already made a decision on the girl,introduce their son to her in informal ways that neither the gal nor the boy knows about the plan. They interact for some time (months or years) and once they become comfortable with each other, the talk of marriage pops up on the dinner table.
The guy, who is more comfortable with someone he knows, has more probability of choosing her than the unknown ones.

So, this is how arranged love marriage works.

Why? Because we are a developing nation and we are also developing our culture.