You would have thought that fast-paced, hassle-free online marriage portals would spell the end of the traditional marriage bureau.

OLD-WORLD MAKERS OF THE MATCH

You would have thought that fast-paced, hassle-free online marriage portals would spell the end of the traditional marriage bureau. But across the country, they flourish

THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF A MARRIAGE BUREAU INVOLVES MORE HUMAN CONTACT, WHICH STILL IS A MUST FOR A LOT OF SECTIONS IN OUR SOCIETY “What I like about an offline marriage bureau is that they screen the candidates before sharing the profiles with you, unlike an online marriage portal which sends out mass emails which don’t even match the requirements.”

P ersonalisation in the times of log-ins is the advantage marriage bureaus say they provide. A human intermediary helps a single person find a suitable partner who has already been put under scrutiny and deemed fit for marriage by professionals.
But to the youth of today are marriage bureaus still relevant? Do they sound as bad as being “set up” by the elders? Even in a country forever on the swivel between tradition and modernity, it would be presumptuous to predict the survival of old-style marriage bureaus ten years down the line.
Shubh Mangal, a marriage bureau which began providing services in 1991, is one of the surviving few trying to protect the traditional idea of matchmaking, a phenomenon under attack by online matrimony portals.
When simply logging on and finding a partner after browsing millions of entries seems convenient and fussfree, these marriage bureaus are sticking on to the belief that their personal interest and mediation skills still count for some.
Says PK Aggrawal, chief coordinator, Shubh Mangal, who started out his marriage bureau by unofficially matchmaking for friends and family: “The idea still works for a lot of people in the conventional setup as well as for those who have tried all the modern means and failed to find a match. We have come across a lot of cases where people have tried fancy online mediums and have faced a lot of trouble finding the right match. A union like marriage can’t be made in such a mechanical manner. There has to be personal involvement which we provide them with.”
“We also provide counseling as well as guidance on legal grounds as we feel that our job isn’t over just because we have found a suitable match for the families. We become a part of the union forever,” adds Aggarwal.
“Any society has different layers of beliefs and methods. The traditional concept of a marriage bureau involves more human contact, which still is a must for a lot of sections. Vernacular newspapers didn’t disappear when television happened. The old marriage bureaus still survive as they serve the specific needs of our conventional societal structure,” says sociologist Ranjana Kumari,
“Matchmaking involves a thorough understanding of the culture, religious orientation, financial and social status of the two families involved. It is the understanding of this sensitivity that makes our platform a safer option than a regular online site,” says Neeta Jha from Sycorian, one of the oldest marriage bureaus in Delhi

Old marriage bureaus across the country, however, have mixed emotions about their survival in the marriage market. “People of the Sindhi community, among many others, are more comfortable dealing with an offline bureau where they know the manager and the owner of the bureau and can meet them or speak to them over the phone,” says Hitesh Chhabria owner of 27-year-old marriage bureau, which is one of the oldest bureaus that still runs out of a physical space in Mumbai. The advent of several online match-making bureaus has not affected his business. “When we Indians find it difficult to shop online, how would we be comfortable looking for a life partner online,” adds Chhabria.
Formed in 2000, Astha Marriage Bureau is one of the oldest of its kind in Kolkata. Soumendu Sen, the owner of the bureau, says the absence of traditional ghataks (individuals contacting prospective grooms and brides) created a void in the matrimonial scenario in the city, so allowing Astha to flourish. Initially, Astha had to compete with matrimonial advertisements in papers, and later with online matrimony portals.
So does the bureau have any chance of survival in the future? “It will survive because unlike online matrimony portals, people can see us and be in physical contact with us,” says Sen. “But, the greatest challenge be faced from Facebook. It is more dangerous than online portals for our business,” adds Sen.
Today, with traditional marriage bureaus having been replaced by online matchmaking sites, the prospective bride and groom choose partners for themselves online, from the comfort of their homes or offices. These sites are a hassle-free, quick and easy way to advertise yourself among lakhs of people for a small amount. With features such as online biodata, which includes photo, astrological information, salary and family details, and even expectations from the partner, these online marriage services have a lot going for them. But they come with their own flaws. “Marriages are going more wrong these days, irrespective of what medium led to the union,” says senior advocate Pinky Anand. “Online mediums are more prone to disasters as they are impersonal and there is less human action involved,” she adds.
Online matrimonial services are popular because they put the control into the hands of those who want to marry. For many youngsters, its about taking their own decisions without their family’s interference. “The online medium has phenomenal advantage. We have to progress with changing times. The bureaus lack speed and choices. They need to make some changes in their structure if they want to make it to the future,” says Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Bharat Matrimony
However, there remain those who are open, even prefer, the old fashioned, though less jazzy, charm of the marriage bureau. “What I like about an offline marriage bureau is that they screen the candidates before sharing the profiles with you, unlike an online marriage bureau that will send out mass emails which doesn’t even match your requirements remotely,” says Paresh Nagrani, 30, a properly consultant in Mumbai who employed the services of an offline marriage bureau to marry Jyotsana, 28, in May this year
“It was a wonderful experience after being tired of unnecessary virtual trips of matrimonial websites. The bureau owner sat with me and we discussed the minutest details and my specifications. You feel safe with such treatment. You can then depend upon them without wasting a lot of time, money and energy,” says Ritika, an NRI from Boston currently in Mumbai scouting for a groom.
Market watchers say that while offline marriage bureaus held their own for quite a while after the digital boom, the online bureaus took off suddenly, and now dominate the market. Says online expert, Prashanto Roy, “While live bureaus initially continued to do well in terms of generating revenues is because for years they have developed and worked on contacts and they had that advantage. But now, however, if we take an overall look at the marriage market, the online portals are showing huge growth.”
According to Netscribes, a global market intelligence firm, “The online matrimony market size was valued at around INR 3.8-4 bn in 2011 and is expected to reach around INR 11-12 bn by 2015. There has been a significant increase in the number of profile registrations signifying the growth of this sector in the country. The major challenges online bureaus would face is from competition from the offline market, rural urban barrier and lack of physical infrastructure and presence of fake profiles.” Choosing between the two could be like a toss-up between fast food and a slow-cooked duck.