Love on the Internet.
Caught between his traditional Muslim roots and his Californinan lifestyle, Tariq Ahmad found the perfect way to arrange his own marriage. He went online. Tariq, a Silicon Valley computer expert, was born in London to a Pakistani father and an Austrian mother. Along with thousands of other young people whose families come from Southern Asia, he looked at the growing number of Internet sites dedicated to finding a suitable husband or wife.As a designer of web pages, Tariq had little difficulty producing his own site. He admits that, like many of his friends from traditional backgrounds, he had to do something about his love life. Tariq said that his dad was very conservative, and "he just wanted me to marry a Muslim girl". She turned out to be Juliana Gidwani. She saw Tariq's advertisement on the Internet, and their relationship began. They eventually got married near her home in Singapore. The wedding pictures, of course, were immediately posted on the Web.Tariq thinks "the Internet isn't ideal because you have to use e-mails, and when you are talking in text you are only getting a bit of information. " He adds that e-mails can't show whether there is chemistry between two people. Luckily, after he and his bride spent time getting to khow each other, they discovered that they did have chemistry.Kumar Kakumanu, a New York-based Indian born in Hyderabad, has been in the United States for more than 10 years. Now he is looking for an Indian wife on the Web.He want to find someone "with a cosmopolitan outlook." Kumar thinks the Internet works well, even though you can't get all the information you need. He says, "With the Internet it is possible to specifically target or broaden your search criteria. Traditional methods are just too slow." Sara was born in India and is studying in the United States. She is another example of someone who thinks the Internet is a good way to find a spouse. After her parents matchmaking attempts failed, she began her own search. She registered with an Indian agency on the Internet, and she had many replies. She quickly found a possible husband. "He's a doctor, a real golden boy with a flood of proposals from good families, which his parents have gone nuts trying to get him to accept." Speed and control are what is important on the Internet. Web sites and e-mail allow people to choose the level of anonymity they with to keep. In addition, on the Internet, people searching for spouses can do in days what once took months: exchange pictures, select the best candidates, and check each other's backgrounds.