Have you ever been in a situation where you find yourself clutching your head and thinking, “why the hell did I agree to this?” If yes, then we can bet it was probably during an arranged-marriage rishta meeting. Marriages are complicated by themselves, but our ancestors, who probably loved a good challenge, said, “how can we make things MORE complicated?” And that’s when arranged marriages came into existence (don’t tell me this story isn’t true, I refuse to believe anything else, okay?). So without further ado, we bring to you 7 first-time rishta meeting horror stories.
1. They Take Their Papad *Very* Seriously
This girl’s rishta meeting with a prospective groom started with him distributing brochures of the company he worked at to her family, then his father tested her patriotism by asking her what she thought about Bhagat Singh (wha?), quizzed her on some maths questions and even told her he would “allow” her to wear western clothes and keep her hair short. But that’s not all! Later, he told her that it is a tradition to ask new brides to make papad, and then asked her to go to the kitchen and make him one! Read the full story here.
2. Handwriting matters!
When it comes to testing bizarre skills, this one takes the cake! One family asked this girl to first take off her sandals to check if she was “really 5’3”. Then they asked her to write down something about her job on a piece of paper. Why? They wanted to see if her handwriting was good! When she humoured their insane request and wrote about her job at an NGO, they promptly said, “Oh you’re the mahila mukti type?” Read the full story here.
3. Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right
This girl got rejected during her rishta meeting because..wait for it…she’s a leftie! And by that, we don’t mean she’s a communist. Not only did they ask her condescending questions throughout the night, the prospective groom’s parents just couldn’t stand the thought of having a grandchild who’s left-handed! Read the full story here.
4. They Mistook the Meeting For An Indian Idol Audition
This family had obviously been watching too many Bollywood movies–they asked the prospective daughter-in-law to sing a song for them. After she happily obliged, she asked the boy to do the same, you know, for funsies. This made the boy’s family very, very angry and they left, telling her parents that she was too “smart” for them. No shit! Read the full story here.
5. 20/20 Vision Is Important!
Things were actually going pretty well for this girl, who hit it off with the guy her parents were trying to get her hitched to. After a long conversation with the prospective groom on Skype, who was based in the US and also seemed to like her, the girl’s family started to think about wedding dates. The next day, the boy’s parents called her folks to call off the wedding. Apparently, she had glasses on while she was skyping with their son, and they didn’t want a chashmish bahu. Read the full story here.
6. It’s All In The Hips, Baby!
When this girl met with a new prospective family, she was already prepared for condescending questions–and they didn’t disappoint! After a series of “can you cook” and “where are you working”, the girl was hit with a comment she didn’t see coming! The boy’s mother looked her up and down, and said, “I like the width of your hips. Ideal for childbearing!” Read the full story here.
7. Mother-In-Law’s Serious Trust Issues
This bride had to make the effort to drape a sari and wear heavy gold jewellery for a meeting for a prospective groom. When she walked in after the family had some chai-paani, she went and touched all the elders’ feet, like a good, sanskaari bahu. When she bent down to touch the boy’s mother’s feet, she lost her balance and fell face-down on the ground. Turns out, the mother pulled her long hair to check if it was “real”. Read the full story here.
GIFs: Giphy
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