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I think a lot of non-Indians have this impression that arranged marriage means forced marriage or child marriage. I was talking to a South Korean guy and he tho

I think a lot of non-Indians have this impression that arranged marriage means forced marriage or child marriage. I was talking to a South Korean guy and he thought we (Indians) get married at a young age or something equally bad. When I told him how it happens in India, he remarked "thats how it happens in his country as well". Nowadays, we have matrimonial sites similar to your eHarmony. Guys/girls or their parents will create profiles and contact each other. If all their criteria match, guy will meet the girl, talk for some time and may say yes or no. Both the girl and the guy can say no. Nobody is forcing us. I know the next question will be how can you choose a life partner in 30 minutes. To me, marriage involves a lot of understanding and compromise from both the parties. I was talking to a 65+ year old American recently. He was talking about something called a "spark" when a guy/girl meet. If you have that spark, you go ahead in the relationship. I don't know if this "spark" is real, I saw a lot of girls in person after liking their profiles, but didn't like them (or they didn't like me) in person. I think at some point, our culture decided that interest of the society is bigger than personal freedom. They may have decided its better to find a partner this way rather than spending several years like in other cultures (I worked with an American who dated the same girl for 5 years and got divorced in 6 months). If you are going to say that such a lack of personal freedom is regressive, I don't feel that way. In America, you have the draft which to me means you loose the right to your body.

cr0sh 10y ago
> In America, you have the draft which to me means you loose the right to your body. The draft hasn't been used in America since 1973 - our military service is all volunteer. What we do have, though, is called "Selective Service" - basically when you turn 18 years of age (and on thru 25 years of age), you have to register for "Selective Service" which is there to provide a list of "able and ready" (but maybe not willing) members of society which can be called up in a re-instated draft if and when it becomes necessary. It has yet to be used.

cr0sh 10y ago

> In America, you have the draft which to me means you loose the right to your body. The draft hasn't been used in America since 1973 - our military service is all volunteer. What we do have, though, is called "Selective Service" - basically when you turn 18 years of age (and on thru 25 years of age), you have to register for "Selective Service" which is there to provide a list of "able and ready" (but maybe not willing) members of society which can be called up in a re-instated draft if and when it becomes necessary. It has yet to be used.