Sunday, August 31, 2003		Books

Single but not footloose or fancy-free
Kamaldeep Toor

For Matrimonial Purposes
by Kavita Daswani. Harper Collins, London. Pages 325. £6.99.

FOR Matrimonial Purposes is a light, comic novel about the ever-so-important institution of marriage in India. It deals, albeit playfully, with the problems that an arranged marriage poses to young, independent and liberated women in the contemporary social milieu of India. The novel deals with the conflict between the modern status of the young, upper middle-class Indian woman and her response to the institution of marriage. This conflict is unfolded throughout this overtly autobiographical novel.

At the heart of the book is the narrator Anju, who is 33 and still single, much to the consternation of her family, especially her mother. She lives alone in New York and works as a fashion publicist. Though she is a successful career woman, yet her trips to India remind her of that which is lacking in her life — marriage. Her hysterical mother makes this awareness even more acute. The novel describes Anju’s and her family’s efforts to find a suitable groom for her.

The book successfully presents the dilemma between tradition and modernity. Anju’s parents allow her to go to the USA not because of her career but because they think that her marital prospects would be brighter there. Anju is the quintessential millennium woman, but only on the surface. In spite of her modern lifestyle, she finds it difficult to shake off her traditional upbringing. Even in America she is hopelessly dependent on her parents and finds it necessary to talk to them about any eligible bachelor she meets. The geographical distance from India does not lessen the strength of her beliefs and traditional values.

The novel abounds in ironical situations and comments, for instance the narrator points out that in an Indian marriage the inane rituals and ceremonies are more important than love or compatibility. The mechanics of the arranged marriage system are dealt with at length and with a great deal of scepticism. There is a conflict between modern consumerism and sexual freedom on the one hand and the traditional arranged marriages on the other. Anju wants to live a life that balances these opposites. She desperately wants to get married and lead a complete life and yet wishes to retain her individuality and freedom. She is modern but wants the sanction of tradition. "What I wanted for my life was important, but so were the good wishes of my parents."

The various means adopted by parents to marry off their daughters and the meetings with prospective grooms are described in hilarious detail. Furtive visits to astrologers and the recommendation of suitable boys by relatives are things that the readers will immediately be able to relate to. Exasperated at the failure of these traditional methods, Anju even tries to find a match through the Net. She goes to great lengths to find a partner, so that she can lead a fulfilling life and appease her parents. The novel ends when Anju finds a partner in Rohan.

However, the weakness of the novel lies in its frivolousness, triviality and characterisation. Light humour and tongue-in cheek witticisms seem to be the mainstay of the book. While the institution of arranged marriage has been gently ridiculed, the sanctity of the institution in Indian society seems to have escaped the author. Besides this, the characters in the novel are static and exhibit nil or at best limited development.

For Matrimonial Purposes portrays convincingly and comically the reality of marriage in the Indian context. It makes pleasant reading, replete as it is with gentle humour and generous doses of subtle irony.