In the article, “Passage From India” published in Time Magazine, author Chandra Prasad
talks about her relative, Neet and her experiences in India compared to her own
in the U.S. Neet was a very bright
student and she never left her house alone.
The author found out that Neet’s Parents were working on an arranged
marriage for her. The author felt like
that was unfair. She want’s Neet to come
to America, so she would be able to marry whoever she wanted. The author helped Neet get started on an
Indian dating website. Many men were interested
in Neet, one American especially. Neet
was very shy when it came to talking with guys.
Neet started to email the American, but he wasn’t responding. Eventually he said that he was interested in
her anymore. Many Indian men were still
very interested in Neet, but the family decided to take it slow because they
are in no rush for Neet to get married.
The author explains “that she has one kind of life and I another; that
opportunities I take for granted are beyond her reach.”
One question I have for this article is why do Indian women
even have arranged marriages? Personally
I believe that people should have the right to choose who they want to be
with. I wonder how I would feel if I had
a brother or sister who lived in a different country their entire life. Our lifestyles would be completely
different. The idea of having a chosen
husband or wife seems kind of ridiculous.
Although I do understand why they have arranged marriages, I personally
think it should be a choice. What if the
wife doesn’t even like the guy? She would
probably get a divorce. There is so much
stress for arranged marriages especially on women. I wonder if India will start not having arranged
Marriages.
I am totally agree with you that people should have the right to choose who they want to be with and I think it is a good idea for those parent out there to let their kids to do that. According to your question. I would say it is kind of part of their old culture that old generation people had with them. Because their parent was arrange their marriage for them and when they had kids, they had to arrange the marriage for their kids as well. It is from generation to generation and they believed that they can choose a good husband for their daughter and she will be happy ,and no need to worry about anything else after the marriage and without asking their daughter if she like it or not. I am not surprise when I read this article. Because my mom was the one of them and she also had a arrange marriage too. Even though my mom does not know and talk to my dad before, Like it or not, she has to married with my dad because it is an order from my grandparent and it was really hard from my mom to say no. If she refused not to married, people in Cambodian community will consider her as a bad daughter because she does not listen to what her parent say or tell her to do. Yes most asian countries are like that and I am not agree with that. I feel so bad for my mom and those daughter out there who had an arrange marriage by their parent. I just hope that parent in India or Cambodia nowadays will give the right to their kids to choose the person who they love or want to be with. I think it is the best way to let the kids choose their own person to marry with them and with the truth love, So that the parent will have no regret later because their made a wrong decision for their daughters. Don't you think so?
ReplyDeleteI agree people in India should have the right to choose whoever they want to marry. I wonder why parents in India don't give their children a choice weather they want a arranged marriage or not. I think if parents did allowed children to choose, the marriages that were arranged probably would have a better outcome. I bet the divorce rate is pretty high in India. I couldn't imagine my mother arranging a marriage for me in the United States. I know for a fact it wouldn't work. I think arranged marriages should be for the folks in India that are to busy to look themselves. I wonder why the guy in American lost interest in Neet. Did she take too long to rely? I guess that's a possibility.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have learned from arranged marriage was the reasons why they do it. I first had my mind shut when it came to this topic because I too agree that everyone should be able to marry who they want. But once I started reading not only this article but OWMC I realized that one of the main reasons they do this is for family reasons and for the divorce rate. Arranged marriages have a very low divorce rate while in the U.S its sad how common it is for divorce. Maybe when parents pick out their matches its true love? Or do they not really know what love is and they feel obligated to stay with the person because they were forced to be with them in the first place. I enjoy reading all these articles about this topic because when we first started talking about it my mind was already made up. This article gave me a clearer mind on why I think arranged marriages are wrong.
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