Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Matrimonial Advertisements” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Matrimonial Advertisements

Advertising for brides and grooms in newspapers, magazines and through matrimonial agencies is a recent social phenomenon which has grown out of all proportions during the past two-three decades only. In the traditional Indian society, marriage has always been considered a sacrament. As such previously the marriages were arranged and solemnised not just to unite a man and a woman in a life-long relationship but also to build bridges between their respective families. Considering the traditional and conservative nature of Indian Society where the family and not the individual has been considered the basic unit of society, the arranged marriage seemed justified or at least their positive roles could not be ignored. However, with growing modernisation, industrialisation, urbanisation, modern education and thought based on reason and humanism, individualism was also born in Indian society.

Modernisation and industrialisation led to increasing demographic mobility which in turn broke the back of our joint family system. Increasing number of nuclear families (consisting of the husband, wife and their children) emerged as they fitted better in the mobility and size required by the changed situation. But the resilience of Indian society saw the broken joint family to be replaced by an extended joint family where the close relatives may not live under one roof, but still maintain close relationship amongst themselves. A primary family, born out of the original joint family and thousands of kilometers away in an urban area, began to be seen as an extension of the original family. As the families were scattered geographically and there was a multiplication in their number, the best way to keep in touch and informed about eligible candidates seemed to be the newspapers. Particularly so, in view of the fact that the traditional mediators for marriages, viz., the purohit, the barber and others could not have reached so many parties as the newspapers could and the papers were cheaper as well. So newspapers have taken the place of purohitas and barbers. Thus newspapers helped sustain the traditional concept of arranged marriages. This system of issuing matrimonial advertisements has brought about contradictions that are bound to emerge when old values are moulded to suit new situations.

For those directly concerned, matrimonial advertisements are a very hard-headed, matter of fact affair. It is a very costly and a cumbersome job. The Hindustan Times is charging as much as a thousand rupees for a matrimonial advertisement in capital letters. It is unthinkable that anybody will waste his hard-earned money simply to amuse the readers. Inserting an advertisement and then conducting the consequential correspondence with large number of correspondents till the child in question is fixed up is a very bothersome and time-consuming job.

It is, thus, clear that matrimonial advertisements are neither amusing nor saddening. On the other hand, they indicate -a very deplorable condition of the society in which we are living today. Traditionally arranged marriages are still popular and a majority of boys and girls are not yet free to choose their life partners: While in some cases the matrimonial advertisements are genuine an,c1 do serve some purpose; in good many cases they serve as a commercial trap of the flirts and call girls, who pass off as ‘virgins’ and pleasure-hunting old timers who pass off as ‘boys’ to grab whatever dowries they can get and make merry with a new spouse as long as they can. Such traps and pitfalls are always there and genuine seekers have to be very cautious against them.

Even in the case of genuine insertions, which fill the bulk of the newspaper columns, it is not easy to find a suitable life partner even after prolonged negotiations and protracted enquiries. Consequently, a marriage through a matrimonial advertisement generally turns out to be a bout of gamble. You may win it or you may lose it. Charlie Chaplin in one of his films, dealing with the subject, became a professional bridegroom and married a number of times. That might be amusing to the spectators, but it is certainly not amusing to the brides-to-be and their guardians who become the victims of these commercial marriages. Therefore far from being amusing or saddening, matrimonial advertisements are indeed a tortuous affair with more than fifty per cent chance of failure before or after marriage.