Kya se kyaa ho gaya...

[whoa!]

The dwindling number of girls in the desert belt of Rajasthan has given rise to a new matrimonial trend. Fathers of eligible brides are refusing to marry off their daughters unless a girl from the groom’s family simultaneously ties the knot with their bachelor son. The girl-for-a-girl system, known locally as ‘Aata-Saata’ or the ‘double jodi’ plan, has become a common practice in the drought-prone Shekhawati belt that spans three districts—Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar.



‘‘Around 30 per cent of the marriages in the past one year in villages in Shekhawati were fixed under this swap system,’’ says four-time Churu MLA and cabinet minister Rajendra Rathore.



The sex ratio in these districts is on the decline, touching 922 in the last census. In some of the villages, the situation is worse with the ratio plummeting to less than 500. As a result, hundreds of boys are finding it difficult to get married. Since brides are at a premium, it has pioneered a new order that gives families with girls an edge in the society and the power to dictate terms.



For almost five years, Amra Ram of Bhorki village, nearly 30 km from Jhunjhunu, searched for suitable girls for his two sons. He could strike an alliance in the adjoining Dhamora village only after he agreed to marry off his two daughters in return with the brothers of the brides.



Such alliances have become a necessity, says Bhorki sarpanch Prahlad Singh Gill. ‘‘Ladkiya nahin hai. Jiske ghar me hai, woh baap raja hai, kuch bhi maang sakta hai (There are no girls. If there is one in a house, the father is like a king, he can demand anything).’’ Gill says in his 3,000-strong village, around 30 families did ‘Aata Saata’ marriage during the past two years. The system has its own dynamics. • An educated and beautiful girl is considered equal to two. So, this winter when Dharampal Chaudhary of Raghunathpura got his college-going daughter married to a family in the adjoining Indrapura, he got the two illiterate sisters of the groom in return as bahus for his sons.



• Age is no bar. It does not matter if the girl is older than the boy, such choices are a luxury.



• A girl’s father who has a minor son postpones the daughter’s marriage till he can do an ‘Aata Saata’ for the siblings.



• Dowry is out. The grateful father of the groom usually offers to bear the entire expenditure on the marriage.



All-boys families—once among the most sought-after—are bearing the brunt of the social upheaval. Daulat Ram of Sheethal Village has three sons. This year the youngest of them turned 30-plus, but he or her brothers have hopes of getting married. The reason: (not difficult to guess) there is no girl in the family.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

This is both good and bad news.

Good news is that a century of practice of two social ills plaguing this society is turning into a positive for the scoeity, in that parents will now think of girl child as a good thing and the evil of dowry will slowly wane. This will also help in national integration. Couple of years back there was an article in Indian express about how poor women from Ap are finding grooms from wealthy families in north india.

The bad news is that the old evil of kanyasulkam may rear its evil head again. Lack of availability of brides may result in wealthy people resorting to buying 'brides' to bear their children. Poor parents may sell their underaged daughters to make money. Also, there have been instances where an entire family (3 or 4 brothers) having to make do with just one wife who is treated like a sex slave.



Let us hope that the government plays an active role atleast now and frame laws to prevent female foeticide and also dowry practices. But those parents who killed of their girl child before they were even born should be made to suffer by making them watch their ladla sons grow old without getting married or having offsprings.

[CtrlAltDel]

...those parents who killed of their girl child before they were even born should be made to suffer by making them watch their ladla sons grow old without getting married or having offsprings.

thats not enuf...they shud watch them turn gay out of frustration n die of AIDS

[samai]

...those parents who killed of their girl child before they were even born should be made to suffer by making them watch their ladla sons grow old without getting married or having offsprings.

thats not enuf...they shud watch them turn gay out of frustration n die of AIDS

Why should the sons suffer because of the parents mistakes ? let the parents pay for their mistakes by whatever curses you want to give. Not the sons. POOR things, they are already suffering.

[Rabab]

Watch this movie " Matrabhoomi(Nation without women)



very sad movie and a good one .......its about a women who suffers just becuase she is the only one left in that nation

[smack]

Watch this movie " Matrabhoomi(Nation without women)

very sad movie and a good one .......its about a women who suffers just becuase she is the only one left in that nation

Kushiyan aur Gham Sahati Hai Phir Bhi Ya Chup Rahati Hai