Goa's phone numbers change from Nov 10, 2002. Prefix old number with a 2. New numbers will be seven-digit 2XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the old number).
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I am glad that now slowly the Indian people are realizing the importance of the girl child in their life. Dowry is slowly going to end and paying the bride's parents, is a dream come true. The girl's parents feeling that their daughter deserves better means that society is changing for the better especially for the Indian women.
From: "Marlon Menezes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CC: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: India's bride shortage
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 12:38:41 -0800
washingtonpost.com
The Desperate Bachelors
India's Growing Population Imbalance Means Brides Are Becoming Scarce
By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 2, 2002; Page A01
BHALI ANANDPUR, India -- Four years ago, as is the custom here, Jai Palarwal and his wife set out to find a bride for their eldest son. They buttonholed friends and relatives, and after two years finally secured a meeting with the parents of a teenage girl from another village. But the marriage was not to be. The parents thought their daughter could do better.
Since then, there hasn't even been a nibble.
"The ones who are looking want a groom with a government job and large tracts of land, and we have neither," said Palarwal, a retired electrician, as he lounged on a rope cot outside his modest four-room home. "The girls' parents have become very choosy."
They can afford to be. The parents in question live in the state of Haryana, and Haryana is running out of girls.
A fertile farming state just west of New Delhi, Haryana produces a smaller share of girls, relative to overall births, than almost anywhere else in India. The 2001 census found just 820 girls for every 1,000 boys among children under age 6, down from 879 in 1991. The lopsided sex ratio reflects the spread of modern medical technology, particularly ultrasound exams, which allow Indian couples to indulge a cultural preference for sons by using abortion to avoid having girls.
The situation in Haryana has become so desperate that some parents are not only dropping their demands for wedding dowries, a tradition that still has a wide following in India, but are offering a "bride price" to families of prospective mates for their sons.
"That's what I'll try," said Palarwal, adding that he is prepared to offer up to 25,000 rupees -- about $520 -- to the family of the right girl. "Even if the girl is squint-eyed, I'll get my son married," he said.
For more see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61642-2002Dec1.html
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What's On In Goa (WOIG): Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays)
Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11
Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule.
Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12) Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal
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