Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Marriage for 60 acres

Marriages are made in heaven they say, but somebody forgot to add "and dowry in our world".

On my way back to Bangalore from Kerala by train this week (22-04-07), I had one of my college buddies traveling with me. He is what would be considered "hot" on the marriage market, well educated, good family, nice job and a handsome fellow. During our train journey his mother calls him up to tell about the latest marriage proposal he has got. The conversation that follows goes like this
Mom: monae(son), I have seen this girl for you.
Son: hmm...
Mom: she is from a good family in Kanjirapally(wild west of Mallu land)
Son: hmm...
Mom: she comes from a rich family, and they are offering 60 acres as dowry! and with loads of gold too.
Son: wow! 60 acres!!! Cool….
At this point the phone disconnects….

My friend is ecstatic. He tells me, I am going to get married dude, MARRIED!! Wait till I break the news to that bugger buddie2 (name changed!), he is going to be dead jealous now.
I: You haven’t seen the girl!! What if you don’t like her???
Him: Dumbo! with 60 acres of rubber who cares about the girl...
I: hmm... but you got to see the character right??....
Him: poda, you are crazy
I: k, as you wish... plz pass on my sympathies to the girl...:)
...he gets a call again from his mom at this point.

Mom: so, as I was telling you, this girl..
Son: Mom, I am ready! I am ready!
Mom: what?? What ready?
Son: Ready to marry I mean!
Mom: You Idiot! I already rejected the girl. She is not very good looking and not so sociable either.
Son(Crestfallen): but... but...
Mom: ok, bye for now. Call me once you reach Bangalore ok.
Son: ok.

Him: My mother acts as if I am some Ghandharva (heavenly male beauty). She rejects requests for the smallest of reasons.. Blah blah blah
I: don't worry dude, we will get another one with 100 acres! Take heart.
Him (still crestfallen): hmm… ok.

Moral of the story: Switch off your mobiles while traveling in a train!

P.S: My friend in truth does not really care about the dowry nor does he actually mean his words, so kindly read this one in a lighter vein....:)

4 comments:

Sarah said...

Most of the guys in my batch married a non medico.. reason.. simple..more dowry!..

Unknown said...

ha ha yeah the ugly face of the "educated" youth...:)

Sarah said...

Who is the biggest culprit? A father wanting to buy status and prestige for his daughter or another willing to sell thier son offering status and prestige?

Unknown said...

Two good things about dowry....
1)I am on the right side of it....:)
2)I guess that is one way for a woman to get atleast something from her family. Without this the boy in the family would get everything I guess... not sure about this tho.

I dont know if this is an upcoming trend, but atleast in my family I dont see anybody asking for the dowry. It is considered to be between the "girl and her family". Maybe its coz most in my family are atleast reasonably well off and dont need the money. Or maybe coz i havent heard even if they have asked...:)