<<< Dating in India - A current perspective - part 1

To understand dating in the Indian scene one needs to understand how the idea of bringing couples together has evolved through the times.

The idea of letting parents choose a husband or wife for the person can appear somewhat unusual to most Westerners.

However, this is not the case when viewed from the eye of an Indian person.

Here, it is considered the parents’ duty to help their offspring make the wisest choices possible in regard to their lifetime partners, and this duty is carried out with great love and care for their sons and daughters.

Parents believe the decision is too big for their children to make alone, with their limited life experiences, and so they draw on their own considerable life experience and wisdom to help ensure their children are suitably matched for the greatest chance of marital success.

Partners are chosen in keeping within some commonalities of background such as religion, similar levels of education, matching caste or cultures etc.

Dating in India - A current perspective - part 3 >>>

<<< Dating in India - A current perspective - part 2

In India, it is more than the physical attributes of the partners that youngsters have to worry about, they need to consider the caste, religion and the long-term consequences of the partnership.

Arranged marriages, as practiced in India, mean that the choice of partner has already been made by the couple’s parents, and although some parents allow dating after a decision has been reached, it has a very different emphasis.

Dating by itself, a concept almost entirely imported from the West, is considered ‘totally normal’ and ‘absolutely necessary’, even by those youngsters who come from conservative families as long as it’s not casual!

The Internet is filled with Indian dating websites designed to specifically help Indians meet other like-minded Indians with companionship in mind.

When you think about it, this practice is not so different from meeting with a traditional Indian match maker to search for potential life partners.

Both partners go through a screening process, not unlike that used for arranged marriages.

Dating in India - A current perspective - part 4 >>>

<<< Dating in India - A current perspective - part 3

In India dating can be helpful and actually complement the existing process of finding potential mates providing it does not promote loose behavior ending in sexual activities.

However, since India is now coming into the ranks of a fully developed country, it has also taken on some of the persona of the Western culture and dating can very well become the normal activity and usage that we currently see in the West.

This may bring with it some resistance from the older generaton but the fast world of the new generation may very well dicate how our culture, beliefs are shaped through the passage of time.

In this case, the decision may be left to each indivdual on how they date, find their partners etc. and neither society or parents can do anything to stop this.

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