NEW YORK: Eye-gazing and cuddle parties may be the newest things on New York's dating scene but the tightly-knit Gujarati community in the United States is having none of that. Gujarati singles have their own stunningly popular matrimonial fair stretched over two warm and heady days in the third week of July.
This year in an inn in New Jersey, with soft music filling in the background, 350 Gujarati singles will mingle in "Matri 2006" which is in its twelfth edition after being replicated in Los Angeles, Houston and more recently in Atlanta.
Attendance is always robust as the elders gently nudge "children" aged 21 to 35 to go to the fair plotted by Matri Inc. and GujaratiMatrimony.com to the last detail including the best dhoklas for tea. Singles fork out $150 to register for the two-day fair while parents get to tag along for the "serious interviews" on the last day by paying the $75 cover charge.
According to serial fair goers, parents huddle with their children over a glossy fair directory which contains a picture and bio of each single in the marriage market. It is a hideous "no-no" for parents to gatecrash the first day of the fair billed as a fun night of rapid-fire introductions, getting-to-know-you games, Garba and energetic dancing.
"We do not let parents attend the fair without a child. They only come into the picture on the second day after the kids have spent an 'ice-breaker' evening having some fun," Yashvant Patel, the creator of the rapidly expanding marriage fair, told DNA.
The prosperous Gujarati businessman who owns a string of motels and stores in the US created the annual event after he tired of desperate spouse-seeking Gujarati men and women trekking to India.
"I saw it was tough for Gujarati singles to discover each other in the US and the parents were equally lost. Something had to be done. Now each Matri culminates in 20 per cent of the candidates getting married or engaged," exulted Patel. The fair has the backing of heavyweight Gujarati organisations including the Jai Mandir, Hindu Mandir and many others who love Patel's credo.
The participants are not allowed to come to the fair in "vulgar clothes" or jeans for that matter. "No jeans, sneakers or hats for men or women. Everyone must make an effort to look nice — only formal business suits or traditional Indian dresses will do," said Patel who has also outlawed alcohol from the event.
