A bright young woman, an IIM doctorate and university professor, was told by a 40-year-old prospective groom that her monthly income of ₹95,000 was “too little”. His mother told her parents that they were a “status family” that expected them to share the costs of a grand wedding with their 200 guests in a seven-star Delhi hotel. When accosted, the groom feigned ignorance about the conversation.
The troubled woman spoke with a counsellor who advised her, “Never marry someone who asks you for money; their demands never end.” She was 37, and being a highly educated and confident woman, she rejected him.
Boys’ parents cleverly cite status as the reason for extracting money from young women’s parents. The groom’s parents are not alone in this deal. The girl’s parents directly ask the groom’s parents, “What’s your demand?” The latter quantify it and the former set out to fulfil it. Rationalising their actions, they say, “If we want our daughter married well, we have to pay the price.”
