Irene O'Brien and her parents sometimes gather for an evening to review the prospects: What new groom looms on the horizon? O'Brien, who, like many Christians in India has a "western" name, is 29 and is beginning seriously to consider her prospects in the marriage market.
She has given her parents the task of combing their social networks to find her a suitable partner.
Until a few months ago, her ideal prospective husband worked in the booming information-technology sector and had coveted NRI (non-resident Indian) status, with a job overseas. That, indeed, described the groom of choice sought by millions of single Indian women in the past decade.
Then the global financial markets crashed, taking with them a few other markets, including that for India's most sought-after grooms.
"What happens with all this recession going on is that there is no kind of security -- marriage means security, but when there is no stability or security, how can a parent give their daughter to someone who is in IT or an NRI?" said the eminently practical O'Brien, who writes for a neighborhood newsletter in Noida, a high-tech hub outside the Indian capital of New Delhi.
"Rather give her to a government official, which is much less salary but many more perks, because in India, once a government officer, always a government officer. Even when you retire, you are taken care of. But you marry an NRI and then he loses job and what can you do?"
Many of India's matchmaking services, which range from informal networks through religious organizations to vast Internet dating sites, are reporting an abrupt shift in priorities: The IT groom, with his soaring salary, and the NRI, who promised a life of luxury overseas, are suddenly badly out of favor, as high-tech companies begin to lay off workers and Indians with foreign jobs start to slink home after being pink-slipped, a verb suddenly ubiquitous in cafe chat here.
There is some good news, however, for the likes of O'Brien.
"The flavor of the month is working women," said Vivek Khare, who heads Jeevansaathi.com, an Internet matchmaking site that takes its name from the Hindi words for "soul mate" and has 1.5 million members. "Because of the downturn, people want to get married and have both partners working. The searches for brides who have jobs have really gone up since October."
While India's economy has not yet been hit as hard as those in the West -- growth for 2008 is believed to have fallen from a projected target of nearly 8 percent to "just" 7 percent instead -- the sense of anxiety is growing here. Thus, the humble Indian bureaucrat has seen a sudden rise in luster, Khare said.
Anish Sapra, 26, and working for an Internet business in Delhi, said he has yet to see his stock drop. "I haven't had people say, 'Oh, I'm not interested in you, you're in IT,' " he said confidently, then paused. "Not yet."
Valini D'Souza, 25, and husband hunting in Mumbai, said she will not alter her plans, crash or no crash.
"I am looking for an IT groom -- or (one in) international banking. Those jobs are well paying, and that helps when you're starting off fresh.
"This phase will end in the next year and you will see things getting better, or at least in three years," said D'Souza, who works in public relations in the IT world. "So I haven't changed my partner preferences. I might just have to delay the celebration (of a marriage)."
Reach Stephanie Nolen at snolen(at)globeandmail.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
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