What do they do?
Nita Jha, a matrimonial consultant, is trying her best to find a match for a Delhi-based client, an IIT Roorkee alumnus earning around Rs 20 lakh a year. After scanning through 138 proposals, she zeroed in on a few young men who she thought would be a good match for this engineer. After meeting the men, however, the client rejected all of them. “She rejects boys left, right and centre,” says Jha, who works with Sycorian Matrimonial Services.
So, is Jha now fed up with the client? “No! I am quite fond of her. In our business, she is one of those ‘normal’ clients,” she says.
Work for Jha involves shortlisting probable brides and grooms on the basis of their educational qualifications, social status, biological details and family income. She then e-mails CVs to both the families, and in case they are interested, a family meeting moderated by Jha follows, normally at the coffee shop of a five-star hotel. If its outcome is positive, the next rendezvous is organised at the home of either of the families. Again, Jha moderates the meeting.
“If these meetings end up in rejection, we fix up an interaction with the next probable match,” she adds. For women looking for grooms, it’s Jha’s responsibility to visit the man’s house and meet his family there. After her visit, she tries to paint as true a picture as she can of the potential groom’s lifestyle for the woman and her parents. “I am involved at every level. The man’s family at times wants to know if the woman is ‘homely’, whether she wears high heels or not and the same way, the woman’s family would be interested in things like the man’s share in the family business and the number and worth of properties the family owns,” Jha adds.
When things don’t seem to work out, then a matchmaker has to act as a counsellor and urge the dissenting party to change its mindset. For example, “when a man wants a woman only from South Delhi or from a top Delhi school, then we try to change his mind,” she says.
Once the parties approve of each other, horoscopes are matched. This is one area in which matchmakers, normally, are not involved except those like Shashi Malhotra, an astrologer in Chandigarh. “I recommend the right matches to my clients and if things appear to be working out, I check the couple’s compatibility through horoscopes,” says Malhotra.
Whether it’s a consultant running a shop-cum-office in a posh locality or an astrologer recommending eligible bachelor’s for damsels and vice versa, what makes them tick is their services. Anybody can post their resume on a marriage portal without having it verified by a reliable source. On the other hand, a bio-data with a matrimonial consultant normally undergoes verification.
Matchmaker KK Pathak of Pathakjee Matrimonial Consultant in Delhi gets his executives to do the background check of a candidate before he vouches for him or her. He also refers clients to detective agencies if they want detailed checks.
“Marriage portals have, no doubt, dented our business in the past few years. But matrimonial services are here to stay because of the personalised services they provide,” he says.
Sometimes, it can be tough. In one case, it took Jha a year and a half to find a bride for a very good-looking man who wanted someone with ‘exceptional looks’.
“He rejected around 300 proposals. But finally, one girl enchanted him and now the talks are in the final stages,” Jha says, fingers crossed. She is quite hopeful in this case, and why not? After all, the fee earned from this client totals R1.5 lakh!
