Sunday, December 24, 2006

Economics of Marriage

Colleague: My friend is getting married.
Bhagya: Khool.
Colleague: He is getting married to one of my ex-students.
Bhagya: Great! What’s the exchange rate?
Colleague: I don’t know I don’t ask such details.
Bhagya: You should. That will help me assess my standing in the market.
Colleague: You know the two most difficult things in life are to make a house and get a girl married.


From the data that I have gathered I have come to the conclusion that my colleague is right. I don’t know about buying a house, my research has to do with marriage. A year back Spooman had told me that one of her friends was demanding a dowry of Rs. 20 lakhs. The reasoning was that he had spent so much money to study in the US and now he is working there, how can he allow his wife enjoy his fruits of labour for free. Why didn’t he become a rickshaw driver, he could have saved himself all the trouble. Then, there is Spooman’s cousin, some obscure TV actor or is that TV Star. Back then his rate was 60 lakhs, must have gone up now if he is not yet married. Why? Why? Why would anyone want to pay 60 lakhs to get themselves an anthropoid drone? Is this freakin world for real? If I had sixty lakh rupees I would be in Italy, wooing Italian men, drinking vintage wine, and gorging on Italian food. I am salivating. I hope just thinking about Italian men, Italian wine, and Italian food doesn’t amount to sin.

Coming back to the topic under discussion, two years back my bro’s bihari colleague got married for a cool sum of 8 lakh in cash, a car, assortment of jewellery and of course the dhoom-dhaam se shaadi ka expense. I had pestered my bro to marry a bihari girl, but he wouldn’t give in. He is one of those stupid people who don’t make hay when the sun shines. Especially foolish cause the market is equally good in Andhra (our native place) too. Information on other states is currently in process as soon as it is available it will be published on this blog for general reference. Kindly do not take the rates mentioned in this post as the official rates. Rate of exchange differs depending on individual parties and negotiation is possible.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Me first !




Aur padha bhii...


Hmm...dulha bikta hai bolo kharidoge?

Anonymous said...

Those bastards living in the US just want a free maid for lifetime not a wife. Someone should tell them that it is they who should be paying the woman's parents - or giving her a salary. It's so easy to be cynical in such a society isnt it?

Anonymous said...

Racoon 1 to Racoon lead, Come in Racoon lead. We seem to have a fire here. Do you copy?

Gaurav said...

hmmm...mast hai..
had long discussions on the same topic during engg..
waise..aaj kal main UK main hoon..bahut din se apna rate pata nahin kiya!!
;-)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post...as always :))) I have been an invisible reader of your blog for long and I enjoy it immensely. Finally today I got aroung to linking you on mine....hope you don't mind. Happy New Year 2007 to you :)--- Zoya http://zoyasmusings.rediffblogs.com

Anonymous said...

There is other side of the coin. Big Daddy's flushed with lot of money are not settling for any ordinary groom for their daughters. They shop until they get a superman. I personally know of such a case where the Big Daddy crushed love interest of his daughter(both my college mates) and married her off to a USA settled groom. At the end of the day, accept it or not,most of the arranged marriages are really successful business deals.

Anonymous said...

abhorable is an understatement... i feel so disgusted that words fail me...

Flying Machine said...

Anonymous No. 3 - Yes most marriages are nothing but deals. But what I fail to understand is what stopped the daughter from doing as she wished, the lure of dad's and prospective groom's money or is it that she never realised she is human and not a puppet.

Anonymous said...

happy new year!!!:)

Grey Shades said...

LOL!!! Wish you a great New 2007 lady! Hope all is well!

SwB said...

A happy new year to you B. *tight hug*

Anonymous said...

aiyla bhagya turns bhagyalaxmi..!!

wishes for the new season of life to u woman.. a few more pages turn.. and a new story will be written.. ((lets see if shaadi is one of them.. :P ))

cheers..

Anonymous said...

Lol! I am one of the lucky few who got a var for free

Btw, what rate are you contemplating buying at, or are you waiting for free grants like me?

Flying Machine said...

Me - No No No, it was a mistake. It's still Bhagya.

Have u been reading my mind. :D

Ganjoooooooo - Boss it's going to be 100% free grant for me. I do not have the buying power.
Hope ur going to be back for good. Both here and in Mumbai.

A Chrysanthemum by any other name... said...

Thinking about Italian men, Italian wine, and Italian food by itself doesn’t amount to sin. But thinking about Italian men, Italian wine, and Italian food and not doing anything about it is criminal

Anonymous said...

a nice article i read after a long time..appreciate your blog!