KOCHI: Stung by the ever increasing love marriages and love-cum-arranged marriages, which has not only made a dent in the economy of the marriage industry, but also rendered thousands jobless, especially traditional marriage brokers and marriage bureau owners, the Kerala Marriage Bureaus and Agents’ Association, an outfit of marriage bureaus and agents in the state, which has around 500 permanent members in its apex council, has decided to take on new challenges thrown by the digital era, by forming an event management team to conduct marriages and hoisting a unique website with unparalleled features.
Talking to ‘Express,’ K M Ravindran, secretary of the Association, said that traditional brokers and marriage bureaus were a dwindling breed, following the boom in online matrimonial sites and resultant love marriages in the state.
“Against this backdrop, we have decided go virtual and are already in the process of forming a database of prospective brides and bridegrooms in the state by conducting home visits across the state,” he said.
Unlike the hundreds of online marriage sites in the state, the website being created by the Association offers a lot of special features. For example, at present, there is no mechanism to cross-check the details of the bride or groom provided in various websites by the clients for reference of opposite parties.
“But on our online platform, the details provided by the clients will be cross-checked by the member of the Association, before hoisting them on the website as we have enough members in each district,” he said.
“Besides, our members will organise house visits and even take photographs with the registered members of the website, which can help customers choose the right profile of the candidate they seek for their wards.
“No marriage site in the state can offer grassroot level authentic information like ours and this assumes great significance in the wake of the rise in divorce cases in the state after marriages solemnised over false information and inflated details,” said Ravindran.
“The families can ward off anxiety once they register with our website, as we get down to the nitty-gritty and provide everything essential for the big day, even DJ programmes. Which online matrimony site can offer this kind of service?” they ask.
According to Basheer P V, a real estate broker cum traditional marriage broker, Angamaly, “Since my wards have grown up, they are compelling me to stop doing this business, following the stigma attached to it. But once we are able to switch to the virtual world to tap the potential of the industry in tune with the times, the stigma attached to the life of brokers will be a thing of the past.”