Culture Shock, Part 1

[letitbe]

While planning our summer travel, my wife got a book called "Culture Shock! India." Incidentally, it is highly recommended for anybody who is thinking of paying a visit here or just wants to expand their horizons. However, as I was reading it, there were a few things that I simply couldn't quite comprehend

Comments

[janya]

For all the strangeness of arranged marriages, they appear to work - families that result last and produce ridiculous number of offsprings. And those offsprings continue to choose family as their first priority.

As a matter of fact, none of the above is true for western-style "love-based" marriages.

[letitbe]

Actually, most educated Indian families limit themselves to one or two children and have been doing so for a few decades now. In fact, if the first child is a boy, they often stop at that.

As for the fact that these marriages last, the repercussions of getting a divorce are twofold: you will be most likely disowned by your family and you will stay single for the rest of your life. Incentives are such that a divorce is absolutely the last resort.

[janya]

Educated Indian families are a drop in the bucket.
Average birth rates are 2.73kids per woman, with population growth of 1.28% (estimated 2006 figures, from Wikipedia).

Repercussions for going outside the social norm are always apropriate to the norm, simply because they have survived the test of time - not just decades, but centuries.

[letitbe]

Judging by the current rate of change in the Indian society, it is likely that these norms will be completely altered within the next 10 years. What happened in the U.S. and Western Europe in the 60's and in Russia and China in the 90's is about to take place here. The fact that India is largely an English-speaking country with full access to American media and music is only bound to speed up the process.