Indian matchmaking is already a (boring) tangle of strange quirks. People are known to seek for brides or grooms from their caste, religion, state, language, skin colour (yes! ), and other things when they are looking for a spouse. Many are ‘status shopping,’ looking to attract someone from a specific group of occupations they believe would raise their ‘prestige-level’ in society.
Such a ‘marriage market’ is commonplace in India. However, as you go about your everyday endeavour of living life, something weird happens just when you think you’ve seen it all. India is renowned for producing software developers. The most desired position in our industry is one that pays handsomely. So it comes as a surprise when someone expresses a dislike for those who work in this rich industry. A picture of a newspaper matrimonial advertisement is now doing the rounds online. It’s from a girl (or her parents) looking for a groom.
‘An attractive fair MBA lady with a wealthy family business background is searching for a husband. The bridegroom should be from the same caste and be an IAS/IPS, a practising physician, or an industrialist’, reads the advertisement. This much is relatively normal stuff in any marriage ad. But perhaps you didn’t anticipate what came next. The ad actually says ‘Software engineers do not call’.
Of course, to each their own. But doesn’t the prospective bride realise how, in India, looking for a software engineer is almost a need when placing such an ad? If there were a template for an Indian matrimonial advertisement, it would unquestionably look like a job posting for a software engineer. These two words have such an impact. For marriage market specialists, it may almost feel sinful to see someone leave software engineers off the list of potential partners whose houses they will enjoy cold beverages in.
Perhaps the bride’s parents and she dislike the field. They could also be comfortable fixing their own computers and dislike having an expert around. Nobody knows.
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