For prospective students and professionals the US may have lost its sheen as the land of opportunities. But one community — the Patels — remains steadfast.
For prospective students and professionals the US may have lost its sheen as the land of opportunities. But one community — the Patels — remains steadfast in its belief that the US is the only place to go to for a better life, and a good life partner. If people running marriage bureaus in the city are to be believed, girls of the Patel community are still gung ho about NRI grooms, and the US.
Pankaj Patel, a 34-year-old resident of Anand, is still searching for a bride because girls of his community are unwilling to tie the knot with someone who wants to live in Anand all his life.
“All the unmarried Patel girls I have met for marriage want to get married to someone settled abroad,” he said.
Even the parents want their daughters to go abroad rather than stay in India. “Parents of unmarried girls of the Patel community always prefer grooms who are settled abroad, particularly the US,” said Bharat Patel, secretary of Patidar Samast Seva Samaj, who runs a marriage bureau called patelvivah.com.
“For the girls, a groom who is not a graduate but lives in the US, is any day preferable to a well-settled graduate in Ahmedabad,” said Rajiv Mehta, owner of Kheda-based Patel marriage bureau. “For Patel girls, the dollar is any day more attractive than the rupee.” Poor looks, poor financial health or even the age of a middle-aged NRI man do not deter Patel girls from opting for such grooms. “I own property worth lakhs in Bhavnagar and Sabarkantha,” said Nagji Patel, a 29-year-old youth who is desperately looking for a bride. “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a suitable match so far.
None of the girls I have met wishes to stay in India.” Strangely, Patel girls who live in villages are as keen to marry youths from big cities, as their urban sisters are to marry US-based NRIs.
“There are many instances where the family of a Patel youth shifted to a big city like Ahmedabad just to find a bride,” said Bharat Patel.
Such grooms often belong to small towns. “They buy a house in Ahmedabad,” he said, “but once they find a bride for their boy, they return to their home town.” Patel parents don’t attach much importance to the property a prospective groom owns. “What matters to them is the place where their daughter will stay after marriage,” said Sejal Patel, owner of Sambandh, a city-based marriage bureau. “If the girl can’t go abroad, she should at least live in a big city.”
Shekhar Sheth, another owner of a city-based marriage bureau, says that when it comes to NRI grooms, Patel girls are willing to ignore looks and financial status. “In most cases, the couple are a complete mismatch,” Sheth said. He said he had come across cases where the groom was 10 years older than the bride.
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