One thing that steuck me as odd, and out right bizarre, was reading some English language newspaper in Delhi like a decade ago. My assumption, as a liberal European, was a) an English language paper most likely was read by more educated people and b) youth problems, I come to that, are more or less the same. The odd thing so was a whole bunch of readers letters, in a kind of advice collum of sorts, around the question of what to do if your parents haven't found a marriage partner for you yet! I, maybe naively, expected the problem to be the opposite. My impression was, that the younger generation seemed to more conservative regarding arranged marriages then their parents. I might be mistaken so. Back then I made a comment about how us Europeans have a probpem with arranged marriages in the Muslim world, but upheld, at the time, India as this huge, free democracy. And I made a mental note about cultural differences.

I do wonder so, what this does with the people involved. Marriage is hard enough sometimes, and yes feelings don't make it easier, but spending your whole life with a person you don't love or care about sounds horrible. As does being kind of forced to spend your live alone, if that is not your choosing.