The achievers' arranged marriage: How 'beautiful girls' spoiled the honest matrimonial advertisement
How about including handsome men?
To our long list of objectionable terms, there is a new entrant — 'beautiful girls'. That's courtesy the social media outrage over a very straightforward front-page advertisement for a no-beating-around-the-bush matrimonial meet.
Following unforeseen backlash for what has always been there, tucked away in the inside pages of newspapers, the organiser of the Young Achievers Matrimony Meet has issued an apology to people who have suddenly woken up to the idea of 'elite arranged marriages'.
But weren’t ‘elite’ arranged marriages always like that?
Yes, and the organisers are not new in this business of match-making.
According to a report, Sreeram and his wife had run Arya Vysya Elite Matrimony for four years. The Young Achievers Meet was founded five months ago and held one successful matrimonial meet, for doctors, on July 1 in Bengaluru.
So, where did they actually go wrong?
By placing a huge advertisement on the front page of a national daily; this, of course, indicates the pink of health the two-member business must be enjoying. A similar advertisement, maybe a little smaller in size, inside the weekend matrimonial pages could have evaded the prying eyes of social media very easily, and reached the target audience with ease.
Also, writing “beautiful girls” — an objectionable word, as the apology says — was a misstep.
The proper term is “fair-skinned”, which has been there in vogue across the arranged marriage market for years and years.
So, one choice of words and an ambitious placement of an advertisement led to what happens frequently enough in the era of social media now.
Outrage.
If you think you have seen everything ! ????The Grand National Young Achievers #MatrimonyMeet in #Bangalore. Qualifications for Boys:???? -IAS/IPS/IIT/IIM/CA/Successful EntrepreneursQualification for Girls:????-Beautiful This is on the front page of @the_hindu. Read for fun. pic.twitter.com/oWmk1uYtVC
— Kumar Manish (@kumarmanish9) July 25, 2018
While the city of Bengaluru does not actually have any problem with such 'elitist' meet-ups, which seem to help them find the perfect recipe for romance, social media was quick to tear the event-to-be to shreds by calling it “elitist”, “sexist” and what not.
It's hardly the first of its kind though.
Bharat Matrimony runs a separate site called Elite Matrimony, which is “an exclusive matchmaking service for the rich and affluent”, its focus on “serving the privileged class who are unique in their taste and style”. According to the site, there are over one lakh elite profiles and over a thousand success stories. Its membership amount starts from Rs 1,05,600.
Then there is Premium Matrimony, which claims to have redefined “the way Punjabi brides and Punjabi grooms meet for marriage”; Lovevivah, the first matrimonial platform linked with Aadhaar (not kidding). Also, there is IITIIMshaadi, because matching intelligence is better than matching kundalis, they believe!
So, everybody in the market has their own preferences and all of them are enjoying uninterrupted existences and uninhibited functioning. How? They never stare at you from the front page on a Wednesday, reminding you that you are not among such “privileged”.
yaar all those losing their shit over that matrimony ad for young achievers/beautiful women, you seriously never heard of Tinder Select? For those who haven't it's Tinder's members-only version for hyper-attractive/super-affluent people.
— Ankur Pathak (@aktalkies) July 26, 2018
Those who need such tailor-made services seek them out, unlike the Young Achievers Meet, which became too adventurous and came out seeking young achievers, thinking a meet-and-greet session, with a veg lunch and high tea, will be very exciting.
They didn't get far though. Not in an era of social media which like to think itself as an all-inclusive, level playing ground.
So, 'successful entrepreneurs', 'eminent personalities' (IAS/IPS etc), 'IIT', 'IIM' graduates are 'young achievers'. But 'beautiful girls' are not, according to social media which lost its cool over the inclusion of the term.
Everyone, while outraging, missed a legitimate question though. How about including 'handsome men' too?
While the 'young achievers' can certainly give that a thought, there is a piece of good news.
The apology is just a perfunctory one, so that no one boycotts the meet to come across as “woke”.
The meet has not been cancelled.
Those who are ready to achieve something in life, even a bit of expensive top-class love, can still attend the meet on August 12.