E-Vivaha has not many takers in Rajasthan

Marriage at the click of a mouse doesn’t quite click with Rajasthani’s. The entire country might be adopting the concept of getting introduced and then tying the nupital knot through web portals but Rajasthan seems cosy and comfortable with its traditional methods.

Statistics with most marriage web portals show that registrations from Rajasthan state are negligible. Probably people here still trust the good old mediators in Indian homes, or the mighty matrimonial advertisement in any Sunday newspaper.

According to a US based portal www.suitablematch.com, the state with 57 million people has registered just 180 members. Not surprisingly, none of these successful web portals including www.shaadi.com or www.bharatmatrimony.com have a regional centre here.

Conservativeness and prevalence of traditional methods for hailing a suitable match in Rajasthan, like rest of Northern India, is there because there is not much of a computer boom here. In south Indian cities and other metros, e-marriages are picking up and are also considered a successful business proposition, Soniya Mathur, an executive with a web portal www.e-vivah.com told Hindustan Times.

However, she maintained that the idea of web portals venturing into marriages was to gel the traditional requirements of people with modern technology, making it easy for most to accept the trend. “These portals offer a wider choice for people, even if they want someone in their own community,” she said.

An official of www.shaadi.com believes that computer consciousness will automatically increase the popularity of such form of arrangements in the state. “The state might automatically see a rise in this trend when more emphasis is given to computer literacy and when better Internet connectivity is provided in smaller towns also,” opines the optimistic official.

Jaiprurian Gyan Prakash Shukla, who took the e route to marry a girl from Madhya Pradesh, said that his parents and friends were surprised to learn about the mode of marriage, with a few declaring it null and void.

If marriages are made in heaven, these web portals are certainly messengers of god for the modern world. And sooner or later, seeing the increasing popularity of these portals elsewhere, Rajasthani’s might have to consider revising their attitude. After all, marriages for many still remain a one-time affair. And we all want the best to chose from.