Love Story


One of the interesting things I've noticed about my coworkers from India and Iran are their views on love. They are much less cynical and jaded then Americans. Grown men talk of love without shame or embarrassment. Last week, one of the Indian developers I work with told me a heartwarming love story, perhaps unique to countries with arranged marriages:

A friend of mine has a roommate named Vivek who was looking for a wife. Vivek's parents emailed him pictures of a potential bride from India. He was immediately struck by the woman's beauty, and emailed her an important question - would she consider marrying someone a little short, and with a dark complexion? She replied that such things mattered little to her when choosing a husband. What mattered to her was character and compassion and the capacity to love. Vivek was thrilled. As is custom, he asked his parents to meet with her parents prior to proposing.

After the meeting, his parents gave him terrible news – they decided that the woman was unfit to marry their son. Vivek was extremely upset, and decided that he would go against his parent's wishes, and marry the woman anyway. So he proposed and she accepted, and then he flew to India, and married his bride. When they returned, my friend couldn't find them anywhere. It's customary to throw a huge welcoming/marriage party, and the newlyweds had disappeared! A couple of weeks went by when my friend saw them in a nearby temple. When he saw Vivek's new wife, he immediately understood the problem – the man's wife had a very dark complexion. The man was ashamed, and went into hiding.

The Indian developer telling me this story laughed and said, Now I know when I get married to see the girl in person first!