Rupee vs Dollar...the game is still unfair!

'Naleekeratthinte nattilenikkoru nazhiyidangazhi mannundu'. There might be very few among us who have not heard this popular black and white melody. In the catchy, emotion filled first line itself, P Bhaskaran has captured the mind of people living in far off places, sweating it out for their kith and kin, and yet longing like anything to return to their homeland. This is still a hit among NRI Mallus, especially in the middle east. I have tremendous respect for those siblings, working hard in desert countries, and bringing home precious foreign income. I am aware of the fact that remittances from these people helped keep our economy buoyant in tough times. A fifth of Kerala's GDP comes from them. What I am going to point out is a different issue, on a different plane.

There are some set paradigms which rule our society. When it comes to cricket, anything Australian is good(as it certainly is). When it comes to good governance, anything American is good. When it comes to literature, anything Russian is good. Likewise, when it comes to marrying off your daughter, anyone outside India is good!! The last one, to me, sounds the craziest of the lot. Economic reforms in the last part of the 20th century has brought in tremendous change in the Indian job market, as we all know. We find people graduating from IITs and IIMs saying 'No' to foreign offers. We have a big big society of talented,smart, educated youngsters working in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Cochin, Trivandrum etc(Sorry if i have missed any one). But still, when it comes to Mallu marriage market, dollars,euros, dinars and dirhams still reign supreme. Let us see specific examples.

It was a fine day in office. Not much of pressure, no deadlines to meet. Arpana just called me on my mobile. In one specific instance of our conversation, she interrupted

" wait wait...did u know, yesterday Divya called me up. She is doing fine. Though its a bit too hot outside, she can adjust with air conditioners inside."

Perplexed as usual, I said..

"hot outside??...air conditioners inside??...Is she not in the same Bangalore where I am staying...in the same TCS where Giri Suresh is working??"..

Sensing a kind of childishness in my reply, Arpana retorted angrily..

" What Bangalore?. Are you living in a world of darkness. Didn't you know that she went to Dubai one month back??. "

I ended the conversation, apologizing for being ignorant.

Divya was a very close friend to me, nay, to everybody who would probably read this. Born to a typical Namboodiri Brahmin family, she always had that characteristic laughter and cheerful conversation. The way she disappeared reminded me of some of the launches undertaken by ISRO, when the satellite just gets lost in outer space...not giving any further signal!. I called up Giri Suresh to complain of not letting me know of happenings, and ended up surprising him with the news!! Anyone in the middle east, if you spot this gal, please let me know, because her's is one contact i really really dont want to miss!!!

The stories of Vinitha Babu, Mozilla and Annapurna Chatterjee are mostly on similar lines. While Vinitha was seen fighting with the 'Akkareyaanente maanasam. Ikkarayaanente thaamasam' syndrome for quite some time, latest update has it that she might be flying to middle east in a while(Or perhaps, has already left...God knows!!). Mozilla was spotted somewhere in Germany, while Annapurna Chatterjee seems to be out of contact even to God.

Now there are some exceptions, which need very very special mention. Another close friend of ours, Haseena, who got married to a CETian, Azhar, is leading a happy life in Bangalore. Have met the couple on a couple of occasions. My feeling is, her choice(or perhaps her parents') is perfectly fine. She deserves a standing ovation from Indians like us!!. Another case is that of Sayonara, which perhaps is too early to comment on. But again, she is married to a Bangalore guy, which is commendable.

All this is just half of the story, somewhere close to interval. But the remaining half might not be too different from this. Anitha, who completed her MS from a US University, and Prameela, who is about to join a similar course in a similar university, might not even return to this country in their lifetimes!( This sounds a bit too forceful, but still for the sake of rhythm, lets accept it). The cases in other departments fall perfectly in line. Needless to say, our friends in college are a miniature replica of a larger society. Trends here are trends there.

The situation is much more grave than we can imagine. We are slowly moving to an age where an NRI groom gets much more dowry(sorry feminists), much more attention in family circles, much more respect and esteem. One of my friends in office was really desperate to woo a girl whom he liked, that he ended up in pleading to his Project Manager for an onsite assignment, at least for three months!!

From the bottom of my heart, I know the difficulties faced by parents, especially those of girls, in finding a match for their children.But parents need to be a bit more calculative, i feel. Ours is the only country where majority of people look after aged parents. If all the guys want to work abroad and all the gals want to get married to people working abroad, then God save the situation!. One more trend is that the worth of a groom is directly proportional to the per capita income of the country he is working in!!. People in US, UK, Germany, Gulf countries etc are much sought after. Why not Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bhutan etc etc.They are beautiful countries, everyone would agree. Even according to experts like Amartya Sen, the happiness quotient is much better in Bhutan than it is an any European or American country. If money is the reason, i bet things are rapidly improving in our country. After adjusting for purchasing power parity, Rs 30,000 in Bangalore is much better than Rs 1,00,000 in Gulf!!. .

My options are pretty clear. Either find an opportunity to jump out of this country after doing my MBA, or prefer to stay a chronic bachelor. ....Friends, to be frank, I am afraid !!