[Air-l] Internet Usage in India

[Frederick Noronha]

On 19/04/07, Nicole Reinhold <nicole.reinhold at philips.com> wrote:
> Hi Radhika,
> Thanks for correcting me, I  fully agree to you point  - Shaadi is indeed
> not a dating website as the successful outcome is not a "date" but a
> marriage.

It's not just a question of outcome. It's also a question of
intentions, motives, and cultural settings. "Arranged" marriages (in
my view, neither inferior nor superior to "love" marriages, just
different) have been traditionally accepted in parts of the globe for
generations. Now, part of this has gone online.

In the case of 'dating' sites, there could be an element of anonymity
involved, i.e. you start talking before you decide on each other. This
isn't the case with the "shaadi" sites, where it's very important to
have things upfront from the word go.

Above all, it's a question of whether research about cyberspace is
sensitive to the local context, or a one-size-fits-all approach is
attempted.

> I guess I still parked in my brain "under dating" as the principal is
> similar: you  map and match participants based on their profile data and
> contact them online. However there is still an other aspect I was thinking

Not sure I'm agree with you here. Calling the "principle similar"
would be to likening Cho Seung-hui --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Seung-hui -- to the military, just
because both carry guns, to cite a recent but probably inapt
comparison!

> about what when family members are searching a partner on behalf of
> someone else? Is that something you would indicate when "showing interest"
> in one profile?

Not sure I understood your question. Marriages can, traditionally at
least, be rather social affairs in our parts of the globe. Family
members (or respected village elders) getting involved in match-making
can be routine -- both in real-world and online. Of course, it's
another world in urban parts of Asia and with the younger
generations... but this goes beyond research about the internet, I
guess....

FN
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