The matrimonial service shaadi.com has revolutionised the way Indians find their future spouses. Boasting 10 million members and a million marriages in 11 years, the site has been a runaway success. Anita Sethi in The Telegraph, UK:
Dressed in pale-green shalwar kameez and pink slippers, Usha Bala Gossain opens the front door of her terrace house in Slough and greets me cautiously. She leads me into her living-room, its pale-green walls decorated with plastic ornaments of mangoes and peaches, and offers me a can of Coca-Cola. A pungent smell of curry wafts through the house. Usha’s only child, Pooja, has lived here since she was two years old; now 24, she will soon leave the family home following her marriage to her fiancé, Kushu, and embark on a new life in Nottingham.
The fresh-faced couple emerge from upstairs, dressed in matching white outfits and holding hands. Tonight, Pooja, an economics graduate from her local university, Brunel (she now works in a bank), will celebrate her hen night. She eagerly answers text messages and calls from friends. A limousine has been booked to drive them to London.
Kushu, 26, explains how meeting a suitable life partner can be a difficult business for many Asians, in Britain and around the world. ‘The majority of Asians our age seek their parents’ acceptance of their partner,’ he says. ‘Asian parents don’t like the idea of dating or casual relationships that are not necessarily going to lead into marriage.’
