But much like everything else in today’s world, this ground is virtual. Enter Facebook. [break]
The meetings over, what I imagine to be, excruciatingly painful cups of tea are oh-so-passé today. Besides, why go through all that hassle when you can use Facebook to screen out prospects?
It was when one of my uncle and aunt wanted to get their son married that they stumbled upon such brilliance. At least they were the first ones to have introduced this wondrous
technique to the remaining curious and eager moms and dads in my family. Indeed, my cousins decided to entrust Facebook for finding them their daughter-in-law.
So it was set. Profile picture after profile picture, friend request after friend request, and some solid PR skills.
This was especially true for the long-distance prospects. I think my cousin was even excited about getting to know a potential match via Facebook.
I don’t know how it worked out eventually for them, but I will admit, it was quite funny. I remember aunties calling each other. “Make sure your daughter looks pretty and decent in her profile picture,” I can picture them saying.
I am sure this recent trend of looking at Facebook as a hunting ground for prospects has caught the fancy of not just my family.
Ask around, and you are certain to come across someone who knows someone who is snooping over someone else’s Facebook.
Imagine the fits that must have been thrown around when the uber eager “matchmakers” got a load of Facebook. Surely, they too must have a Facebook account with which they can stalk, if nothing else.
And with the merging of the generations into one single platform, (again, thank you Facebook) things have really become convenient—whether for the better or worse we are yet to know.
Before Facebook, generation gap existed in literal sense. But with its invention, the gap has narrowed quite significantly as not only kids but also parents, uncles and even all the members of an extended family can keep track of each other.
Now, I have seen the movie The Social Network and understand how Mark Zuckerberg came up with the ‘relationship status’ thing with the intention to make it easier for guys to approach girls and vice-versa. But for the generation before us to grasp this and give it their own twist by looking out for prospective “in-laws” is unnerving.
I have nothing against Facebook for helping numerous people find the love of their life. But my point is that using such a site to look for a match for a third person is absurd.
Surely, Facebook must have been real handy for many a people when they wanted to personally look for someone they met somewhere. But now, the tables have turned in favor of the generation that is hell bent on getting their offspring married and is eager to use any means to get to this precise end.
It is actually rather easy to see how Facebook can be synonymous to a matrimony site for the previous generation. Lets face it, recent photographs, accurate bio-data, and the latest updates of the “target” all add up to the old trouble in a modern style.
I haven yet to witness a couple who have come together solely because of Facebook. But I have seen people profess their love on Facebook and let the world know of their affair through the website.
Also, I have read columns in various magazines with stories of how a guy and a girl met through Facebook and fell in love. Some even admit using it to add a dash of romance to their lives.
So I guess Facebook fuels romance rather than instigate it.
And such is the situation my friend. Facebook dominates in more ways than you can imagine.
My objection is not towards people meeting on Facebook, so long as they belong to the same generation. My complaint starts the minute parents take the matters in their hands and decide to look out for the perfect match on Facebook.
Facebook as a dating site is comprehensible, even justified. But as a matrimony site, it is baffles me. And as if that’s not enough, I even stumbled on a site that helps “married Facebookers” balance technology with their life and how best they can use the site to spice up their romantic lives.
While “The Social Network” made it big in Hollywood, Facebook, I think, is no less at inducing real-life dramas.
With our very own eastern touch to the use of this social networking site, watch out as Facebook is transformed into the new matchmaker in K-town!
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