While they still tend to marry within their caste and religion, doctors and lawyers are no longer unchallenged at the top of the eligibility hierarchy. Highly paid software engineers, who with the coming of stock options and IPOs may have a shot at riches previously unimaginable in this impoverished country, are now much in demand. Bombay resident Sudha Nair understands the higher status that programmers enjoy only too well. The trend is illustrated in matrimonial advertisements in the classified section of The Times of India, which these days often read less like the yearnings of unfulfilled hearts and more like jobs-wanted ads. But there are an estimated 3.1 million Indians using the Internet, and with hundreds of matrimonial websites going up, the Net is gaining reach and popularity.
Efficiency is one reason why.
On the Web, it can take less than one day. It is much easier to qualify or disqualify someone online. If Manglani makes DIY matchmaking sound too calculated and leaves you wondering what will become of romance, consider that romance plays only a bit part in arranged marriages. Far more important is whether the prospective spouses offer each other and their families certain social or economic advantages. Well, at least not initially.