Matrimony.com

Marriage is Forever at the Indian matchmaking site, bharatmatrimony.com. Or so the tagline says. Makes RSVP's Where More Australians Meet a little non-committal.
Over at this thriving matrimony website (dating is for wimps, people) business is booming. Ten million users, 750 employees and 27 offices around the world. It was started in 1997 by single IT dude Murugavel Janakiraman as a way of meeting more chicks. Incidentally, he hooked up with his soul mate, Deepa, on the site and the pair tied the knot in 1999. Nothing like practising what you preach, eh? Since then, the site has recorded the highest documented number of marriages online. Not bad – though it would probably struggle to beat adultmatch.com for the highest number of one-night stands. And there’s even bonus pre-marriage and marriage counseling if you’re having trouble making things work.
So what’s the difference between Bharamatrimony and other online dating sites? Well, on this site, parents (that’s right, those people you used to live with when you were small) frequently create the profiles for their offspring. This can be quite amusing at times. One optimistic mum described her son’s hobbies as 'crosswords, bookclubs, card games and the internet'. Hmm, whilst this may be true, I’m quite sure the gent in question would rather his mum had described his interests as 'snowboarding, car-racing and world travel'. Some of the parental units get quite specific about what they’re after for their child in terms of a partner. "I want an IT professional," Mrs Kahtoon says, "preferably someone based in London, or someone who has the opportunity to work overseas in the future."
Guess that rules out heart surgeons, astronauts and rocket scientists. You can check out more on Mrs Kahtoon here.
Having a surf on Bharatmatrimony.com makes me think – how good would my parents be at finding my soul mate online? Would they in fact have better judgement that I do when it comes to finding a life partner? Judging from some of my past relationships – perhaps they would.
Tell me: Would you ever let your Dad have a crack at your online profile? Are parents actually the best matchmakers around?