As mentioned on the generational differences page, our parents did not have diverse options when it came to potential partners or spouses. Because they were raised in the same area their entire lives and were only surrounded by people from their same sub-population of India, they knew they would end up with someone else who was also Hindu and Gujarati. Our parents met at a hospital where they were both studying/ working. Because their main focus in life was their careers and becoming financially stable, they spent a majority of their time in a work setting. Therefore, they did not have many options in terms of where to meet a potential spouse because they did not have much leisure time to spend socializing or meeting new people. As mentioned in lecture,
“acquiring information requires time, money, emotional effort”.
As stated previously, my brothers and I have more of each of these resources than my parents ever did. The lack of these resources is why arranged marriages were so common in my parents’ generation, as mentioned in lecture, but my parents were lucky enough to find each other on their own!
Shaili's Family 