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Transition in
India By John Thatamanil My sister Rachel is getting married! What’s newsworthy is not the upcoming event itself, but rather how she met the man she will marry. No standard term for such meetings exists, so let’s call it an “Internet Arranged Marriage.” My sister and my family initially met my brother-in-law-to-be over the internet. After writing letters to several potential partners,we seriously considered two. The family (my sister included) met with her now fiance on one of his work- related trips to the U.S. A respected cousin met both prospects, one in Heidelberg, Germany, and the other in New Delhi. Fortunately for my sister, the entire extended family (several uncles, aunts, etc.) enthusiastically supported her choice. Presley (his father was an Elvis fan) is a member of the same Indian Christian church (the Mar Thoma Church) as we are, and he is, as we like to say, “from a good family.” That too was determined by a thorough process of investigative networking. Last month, my father, mother, and sister went to India for a formal engagement ceremony. The wedding will take place in New York in December. This is a story of successful transition, a story about how an ancient Indian tradition is being adapted to contemporary realities. This story also sheds a great deal of light on other matters as well, especially the reality of the “transnational family.” Nearly every upper middle-class family from my home state of Kerala in South India has immediate relatives living in the U.S., Kuwait, and England. Arranging international marriages is becoming now a commonplace reality. The implications of such arrangements for economics, international relations, and transnational cultural flow are enormous. As money is sent back to India, as husbands or wives immigrate to America, as religious ideas and institutions are transplanted, our respective nations are undergoing important transformations. One small example of such change is the presence in Jackson of three Hindu temples and a Sikh Gurudwara. Although this country is enriched by this new influx of immigrants who fervently believe in the American dream, India suffers both gains and losses: although considerable financial resources flow in, the nation also experiences a “brain drain” as the best and brightest leave in pursuit of greater economic opportunity. Such transitions are beyond doubt ambiguous. PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 5 OF 6 | NEXT PAGE |
