Passport + Visa Shaadi = America

My friend: Hey, she got engaged last weekend man.
Me: whatttttttt ?

My friend: Yeah ,her fiance is in America, just finished his MBA.
Me: OOOh No, not again :(

This is not the first time this is happening nor will it be the last taking into account my past experiences. Three of my most cute friends have fallen prey to this phenomenon.

The HCF : They all got married to Indian Americans.

With the number of Indian Americans increasing exponentially after the IT boom, there is a new phenomenon in the Indian Marriage market. Parents prefer to marry off their girls to any guy with the tag 'America' attached to him. I agree that this is not new but recently it has taken astronomical proportions with even a guy going to US on a B-1 visa for 3 months giving himself the tag ‘Indian-American’ .In most cases ,this also means that the girls would have met their would be 'Husbands' only through Yahoo Chat or Skype video !

There are two sections of the society who end up as losers to this strange phenomenon. One of course comprises those poor Indian lads of marriageable age who miss out on the 'best of the lot' in the market. Strangely enough ,there is also another suffering party to this titled 'American Indian girls' . I remember seeing a film in which the heroine who plays an Indian American girl declares towards the end... 'All you boys would love to date us here in America, but when it comes to marrying, you would happily go to India and marry a totally Desi girl'

There is another angle to this too. I really don’t know much about the American part of the story, but for sure, at least one amongst these three cuties that I am referring to, happily bade farewell to her 'long-standing' boyfriend here in India while heading for those so-called greener pastures.

I have no doubt in mind that America is indeed the land of opportunities, my only problem is with these girls who become opportunistic.I do know that the sudden upward shift in lifestyle and sometimes career is too appealing for a rethink, but then sometimes the journey too is as important as the destination. Your hubbie sponsored 'Lufthansa first class' might be comfortable but then a self earned 'Air India Economy' might be lot more satisfying.

And then again, marriage is a sacred institution .I sincerely believe using it for career/lifestyle growth would seriously dent it's sanctity. Capitalising on the hard work of someone for our own personal growth would be akin to plagiarism. It definitely would be more satisfying for anyone when we realise that we have contributed in equal measure to the heights attained by our better halves.