S
shunyampurnam
Guest
I am an Iyer and I am at an age where my parents and relatives are very anxious to get me married ASAP. I have been postponing giving all sorts of half-baked excuses. The main reason I am in confusion is because my parents are very very orthodox. Patthu, theetu, madi are followed very stringently in our house and my parents expect their future daughter-in-law to also follow these as well. I follow most of these as well and respect these traditions but I am not dogmatic about it. I believe they were designed at different times when most brahmins were priest/vedic teachers and are not really applicable to westernized brahmins how primarily work in companies. Most Iyer girls today will obviously find it highly sexist if my parents demands that the they sit in a corner of a the room and sleep on the floor on their three days. And the girls are justified feeling this way. On the other hand, I sympathize with my parents as well. They were brought up this way and I can't really blame them for following the rules that their parents have taught them from their childhood.
Things gets further complicated by the fact that my Jathgam is a shuddha jathagam which means that finding a match is quite difficult. On top of this I am told that, for some mysterious reason, that for every unmarried Iyer girl there are roughly 2-3 unmarried Iyer guys. Apart from my parents expectations, I have a lot of expectations as well. I am quite a unique person. I perform trikhala sandyavandahanam and I have studied vedic chanting semi-formally. But I also spend a lot of time playing video games and watching Japanese Anime. I have great interest in Indian philosophy and love the writings of Radhakrishnan and have great faith in the teachings of Ramana Maharishi. I am a die hard fan of Madurai Mani Iyer. Note that these are not contradictory in a way; I just want to point out that this combination of interests is quite rare. I am also researcher at a prestigious institution and would prefer it if my future wife is highly educated (preferably a Ph.D)
All this puts me in an impossible situation. Search for bride who is orthodox, matches my horoscope and at the same time shares my interests and is highly-educated is like searching for a needle in a haystack. This is not much of a problem for me. I am enjoying single life! Maybe I will regret not having a life-partner when I enter 40's and 50's but worrying about it now is pointless. But my parents will be heart-broken if I stay single. Being very orthodox they feel it is their duty to get me married. Moreover they also have the standard desires of playing with grand-children, etc.. Moreover, I have a younger brother and I have been told that it is highly inauspicious for a younger brother to get married when his elder brother is not. Me staying single could possibly affect my brother's chance of finding a bride.
I hope I have made my dilemma clear. What I am to do in this complicated situation? Should I just marry which ever girl my parents choose for me? This is how my parents got married and they seem to be quite happy. Or should I ask my parents to search for a girl who shares my hobbies and interests. What is the point of getting married to a life-partner with whom you cannot share your hobbies and interests? But this may create animosity between my parents and my future wife as she might find parents stringent rules very unfair and discriminatory. I don't want to be stuck in the situation when neither party can really be faulted and both parties feel that they are justified. Or the final option is to avoid all such complicated headaches and just stay single. Sure happiness multiplies when you have someone special to share it with but is it really worth all the trouble?
Looking forward to replies. I would be interested to know what the seniors in this forum feel about my situation. I would be very happy if some ladies also give their viewpoint.
Things gets further complicated by the fact that my Jathgam is a shuddha jathagam which means that finding a match is quite difficult. On top of this I am told that, for some mysterious reason, that for every unmarried Iyer girl there are roughly 2-3 unmarried Iyer guys. Apart from my parents expectations, I have a lot of expectations as well. I am quite a unique person. I perform trikhala sandyavandahanam and I have studied vedic chanting semi-formally. But I also spend a lot of time playing video games and watching Japanese Anime. I have great interest in Indian philosophy and love the writings of Radhakrishnan and have great faith in the teachings of Ramana Maharishi. I am a die hard fan of Madurai Mani Iyer. Note that these are not contradictory in a way; I just want to point out that this combination of interests is quite rare. I am also researcher at a prestigious institution and would prefer it if my future wife is highly educated (preferably a Ph.D)
All this puts me in an impossible situation. Search for bride who is orthodox, matches my horoscope and at the same time shares my interests and is highly-educated is like searching for a needle in a haystack. This is not much of a problem for me. I am enjoying single life! Maybe I will regret not having a life-partner when I enter 40's and 50's but worrying about it now is pointless. But my parents will be heart-broken if I stay single. Being very orthodox they feel it is their duty to get me married. Moreover they also have the standard desires of playing with grand-children, etc.. Moreover, I have a younger brother and I have been told that it is highly inauspicious for a younger brother to get married when his elder brother is not. Me staying single could possibly affect my brother's chance of finding a bride.
I hope I have made my dilemma clear. What I am to do in this complicated situation? Should I just marry which ever girl my parents choose for me? This is how my parents got married and they seem to be quite happy. Or should I ask my parents to search for a girl who shares my hobbies and interests. What is the point of getting married to a life-partner with whom you cannot share your hobbies and interests? But this may create animosity between my parents and my future wife as she might find parents stringent rules very unfair and discriminatory. I don't want to be stuck in the situation when neither party can really be faulted and both parties feel that they are justified. Or the final option is to avoid all such complicated headaches and just stay single. Sure happiness multiplies when you have someone special to share it with but is it really worth all the trouble?
Looking forward to replies. I would be interested to know what the seniors in this forum feel about my situation. I would be very happy if some ladies also give their viewpoint.