Marriage

India is running into a huge problem. Male children are preferred. Because of this, since ultrasound was introduced, abortion of female children is common. Also, families are more likely to seek medical care for a male child than a female. With these two factors, Males outnumber females with a 100 to 70 ratio. The Patel community is struggling with this, because there are not enough women within their community for the men to marry. The leaders had a meeting and made some decisions. They are willing to pay other high caste communities to marry their sons. They are absolutely not willing to allow their sons to marry from a lower caste. And, if their daughters want to marry someone from a lower caste, "honor killings" within families are common. The Patel community held a matchmaking meeting this last week to help with this problem. 400 eligible Patel men were invited. 100 Patel women were invited. The men introduced themselves and told of their qualifications. The women were able to select someone that they would want to marry. Every women was able to find a match. Now, the parents have to get together to discuss this match. There will be another such matchmaking meeting on October 12th. I've been invited to participate. It's no problem that I'm a foreigner! :) Can't wait!