Marriage is convenient for men

A disembodied screenshot has been getting folks hot under the collar on Twitter.

- NISHA SUSAN

Let me assume that you, my wonderful reader, have a full and healthy life and only use your phone to listen to treatises on dhrupad. And to call your grandmother. Let me tell you about the disembodied screenshot (provenance and veracity unknown) way out in the bloodied fields.

Titled "confession", the note begins, "29 Female, B.Com, not working as of now. I am speaking to 14 guys through matrimony (assume this is a reference to a matrimonials site) and confused, which one should I choose. Please help:" Then follows the list that starts "Guy 1-32, Byju's 14 lpa, Bangalore" and ends with "Guy 14-29, IPAC, 18 lpa, Hyderabad." Lpa means lakhs per annum here. Twice, in her list, she tersely points out a physical factor like bald or only 5ft, 5 inches. Otherwise it's all about what is affectionately known as the take-home package.

Though plainly written, the not would certainly have Jane Austen nodding along at this truth universally acknowledged that money in its many-splendoured monetary instruments is a factor in all kinds of marriage. Or so you would have thought but the level of pouting and bitterness from men (and some women) would make someone think that this is the first time on God's green earth that a woman or man has applied their cold gaze at a marital prospect.