Compare and contrast the portrayal of Indian marriages in the stories 'The Old Woman' and 'The Bhorwani Marriage'

The first 200 words of this essay...

Q. Compare and contrast the portrayal of Indian marriages in the stories 'The Old Woman' and 'The Bhorwani Marriage'

Culture is comprised of those things which we tend to cherish, and those things, which are important to us, being therefore the accepted and patterned ways of behaviour of a given people. India is one of the richest countries in the importance it gives to its culture and heritage. Marriage forms an important of Indian culture and traditions and is considered as one of the major pillars of society.

A traditional Indian marriage is an arranged affair in which the decision of the 'perfect spouse' is the parents', mostly the mother's, as is shown in the short story, 'The Bhorwani Marriage', written by Murli Das Melwani, and taken from Contemporary Indian Short Stories (1983). In 'The Bhorwani Marriage', we see an Indian mother, living in Uruguay, yet coming to India to visit a matchmaker, in search of good marital prospects for her daughter. Throughout the story, we see the mention of Indians living overseas coming to India in search of spouses for their children, showing how Indians retain their customs and values no matter how far away