Non-resident-Gujaratis youths who aim to go on a meeting spree, interviewing 30-40 girls in just 10-day time to zero in on prospective life partners — the idea that inspired novels, serial ‘Mr Yogi’ and even conceived the plot of Priyanka Chopra starrer ‘What’s your Rashee?’ are becoming passé. Thanks to internet, the wannabe grooms do most of the bride-screening on-line, cutting the chase to meet just two to three girls in two days and getting married within a week.
As Gujarat gears up to receive its future son-in-laws during the winter months of December-January, perceived to be the ‘NRG season,’ the sons of the soil are busy on the internet in US, UK, Canada and other countries finalizing the girls, chatting with them online, checking their pictures and holding video-conferences.
Match-makers say that the lengthy ordeal of choosing the bride now no longer exists, thanks to the rising use of social networking sites for match making. “Today, NRG grooms shortlist four to five girls from the list of 40 and prefer to plan more meetings with a selected few,” said Falguni Mehta, an NRG matrimonial specialist for the last 25 years. With on-line dating, not only the list of prospective matches has sweetly shortened, but the time frame too within which NRG weddings materialize has come down from average of one-and-a-half month to 15 days. And within 15 to 20 days, the entire matrimonial process right from choosing the right match to marriage ceremony and going off to honeymoon gets over. Take a case of Mihir Maaru, son of grocery store-owner settled in the US. Mihir was recently in the city with his parents for three weeks with an agenda to spend time with four girls whom he had selected from the list of 50 proposals from various marriage bureaus. “I spent a week for choosing a right soul mate,” he said.
Week is a good enough time, feel NRG prospective grooms. They already complete the initial ice breaking conversations and social circle verification processes via social networking sites before they actually land here. “Three to four meetings with each of shortlisted matches certainly help,” said Ankit Shah, an NRG from Dubai.
Similarly, Sheela Dave, a match maker who specially caters to NRG suitors, said, “The online interactions save many NRGs from going through a long labour of meeting a large number of prospective brides during their short stay. Now with the changing times, the procedures have also altered. We now provide a long list of 40 to 50 matches to the prospective grooms about six to eight months prior to his planned visit. They conduct social back ground checks and begin initial interactions via on-line chats and video conferencing which helps them to short list the candidates they would like to meet in person when they arrive.”
“Due to the rising trend of break ups in NRG marriages, the cautious grooms carry out complete detailed checks on the prospective candidates via net,” added match maker Hemendra Rajput.
