Looking for your prince charming?

The perception of the best husband has stayed for the most part unaltered over the years, but the perception of the best wife has seen a big modification in the last few decades. Besides being youthful, good-looking, slender, tall, fair, cultured, she should be from an acceptable family. Marriage is a serious issue worth pondering over whether one has a daughter or a son.

Are you an over-age or average guy and want a life partner? Are you a guy who is 70 years old, earns a few lakhs per month and wants second marriage? Are you a widow or widower and want another life companion? Are you parents looking for a match for your kids in a way approved by our society? Whoever you are, matrimonial ads are the answer.

Aneeqa Ali, who runs a school, says: “No ad brings some sunshine on the gloomy face of parents. Girls’ parents look for ATM machines (paisay wala). In the same way boys’ parents look for supermodels. What will the simple people who have simple desires do?”

“There are fitness conscious widowers who are 60 but look 40, there are mama's boys as well, and there are boys’ parents in a hurry, demanding too much, there are old and young settled abroad and there are some with obsession with fair skin. One feels so sad that superficiality rules,” adds Aneeqa.

 “It kills us that we can’t match up to our daughter’s would-be partner preference. It kills us that we are not perfect enough. It kills us that our horoscope matches only fifty per cent with theirs. We could have worked it out but the luck came in the way. May be the next boy will be our dream son-in-law,” says Ikram Hussain, a small-scale trader.

“The boys’ parents provide details regarding their son’s partner preference. They imagine their son as a hero from a movie, who is riding his horse through forests, searching for his true love. What would girl’s parents want their daughter’s partner to be like, they never seen to think,” says Najmul Hasan, whose daughter’s marriage age is fast running out.

“Given that I got married via matrimonial ad a short time ago, seems as if nothing has changed. 'Gori', beautiful gold plated bride is always in demand. Nothing has changed really since I entered into marriage wedlock. And more than the 'gori' it is the gold that is in demand,” says Hira Fatima, a school teacher at a private school.

“My parents were a prey to these ads sometime back when some uncle types seemed to love my profile more. Their age was more than they actually wrote. And the irritating aspect was they claimed that my profile suited them the best. That’s why my parents didn’t like matrimonial ads. But when everyone  became worried because I was getting thirty and not married, then they went through every ad to find a suitable match for me,” adds Hira.

Even boys have problems finding a suitable life partner. “I flashed my goodness and awesomeness boldly to lure my would-be life partner. I posted a profile that makes a woman skip a heartbeat. I thought I was a lion, standing out from a pack of smart boys to earn favour of my would-be father/mother-in-laws. But nothing has happened so far. Despite all the expectations from the girls’ parents and my choice of girl I haven’t lost hope,” says Shadab Haider, a newly inducted college lecturer.