Matrimonial advertisements are good for a laugh, but they reveal the true colours of Indian society, with our hypocrisy surrounding region, religion, skin-colour, caste, language and class laid bare.
The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is extensively featured in the editorial pages but not in matrimonial columns. This was evident when all the leading newspapers of Mumbai rejected Padma’s matrimonial ad for a groom for her son Harish Iyer, a prominent LGBT activist.
All the leading dailies informed Iyer that it’s illegal to publish a gay matrimonial.
If it’s illegal to publish matrimonial ads for the LGBT community, then how is it fair to print ads that encourages casteism and regionalism?
Note the emphasis on ‘income in crores’ and ‘fair’ above.
And then: ‘very b’ful’ and ‘very fair’.
‘Looks much younger.’ Ahem.
‘Weight proportionate.’ Hmm.
‘Very Fair’ again, and this promise: ‘Decent Marriage Assured’
And if you’ve lost all faith in other communities then you have your community matrimonial sites. Are you Reddy to find your soulmate?
So insidious and deep-rooted are these attitudes that even Harish Iyer’s ad stated, ‘IYER preferred’.
In an interview given to a leading national daily Harish claimed the caste preference was done in jest, in order to sound “typical.”