Except in Bollywood romances, Indian marriages rarely start with 'boy meets girl'. That is a detail that comes a long way down the line. The process starts with the family of an eligible boy and the family of an eligible girl matching compatibilities among a multitude of variables. These range from religion, caste, astrological fi t, social and linguistic background, to education, food habits, tastes in music, entertainment, professional prospects, etc.

Boy gets to meet girl only after the elders of both families have gone through this complex and ritualised matching of checklists. Every Indian community plays its own riffs and the process can get so convoluted that it requires a 1,500 page door-stopper like A Suitable Boy to describe in detail. Rather than take on such doorstops, families resort to marriage brokers.

The broker maintains a database of eligible boys and girls. Indian matchmakers come with ancillary skills. Astrological competence is a must, for example, since the process is initialised by matching horoscopes. Also, they need to have complexities of caste and sub-caste at their fi ngertips. Brokers are paid commissions when a suggested match fructifi es in marriage.