Seeking Miss Perfect
In the case of arranged marriage, most of the times the grooms-to-be are a confused lot and their decision about the bride is largely influenced by a number of external factors.

Infatuation with celebrities: No matter how stupid or shallow it may sound, the truth about the deep influence of cinema on the minds of people cannot be denied. More so, on the minds of men who can’t stop dreaming of ‘Aishwarya Rai’, ‘Madhuri Dixit’ or ‘Bipasha Basu’ and secretly begin to nurture the desire of marrying someone like them.

All is bright and fanciful as long as the dreams do not clash with reality. Several years of their infatuation & romance with one such 'mental image' come to an abrupt end with the decision of marriage (made by their parents). Under these circumstances, it is only natural for such dreamy-eyed, infatuated men, who have painted a picture of the woman of their dreams in their mind over the years, to face confusion and disappointment in the real world. What they fail to understand is that it is wrong for them to think that only by marrying a woman with the looks of 'Aishwarya Rai' can they remain happy in their marriage, when actually they’ve never known them personally and their infatuation with their glamorous looks is barely skin deep! Such an obsession, which is driven by a biased perception, is hard to be met in the 'real' world by a 'real' woman made of flesh and blood with 'real' imperfections and this bound to cause disillusionment.

Friends and Peers: Another factor could be the influence cast by friends and peers these men look upto. For example, if they see a friend marrying a beautiful wife, they too pine for one. If they listen to their friends boasting about the kind of proposals they get, they too desire the same. For these men, marriage is not just a sacred bond between two individuals; it is some sort of a ‘package deal’, where exhibiting a fair, beautiful and attractive wife in parties and social gatherings not only leads to enhancement of status amongst friends and peers, but could open the doors of long-term professional success.

36’ 24’ 36’: “With the increase in number of beauty contests, many men want to have a woman with a figure 10”, says the result of a survey conducted recently on the kind of women men desire as their life partners. At least in India the situation is such that nine times out of ten, men want a really beautiful and fair damsel, not bothering to take a look at themselves in the mirror. There are very few guys who though want a looker, but are willing to settle for anyone looking decent. “The most hilarious part is that even if a girl is just a few kilos overweight or an inch plumper, she will be rejected”, revealed the mother of a dear friend who’s been facing perpetual rejections on account of her less-than-perfect figure.