Matchmaking firms need to show professionalism
Tanusree Barman | Friday, 1 August 2008
SUNIL Dutt, a 32-old eligible bachelor, works in a multinational company. He did his Master's degree in Management from Dhaka University. So far Sunil was busy with his study and future planning. Now those things are over. And it is time to get married.
But who will Sunil Marry? He has no affair with any woman. One day his colleague Raihan took him to a matchmaking agency. Thinking long and hard, he became a member of that agency.
After a week, Sunil received a phone call from the agency and he went there. It was settled that he would go to see a 27-year-old prospective bride, Baruna Roy, the following day. On completion of her Master's degree from Eden College, Baruna now works in an advertising firm.
Her father, a civil servant, took the service of the matchmaking agency to marry his daughter off. Having a look at Sunil's CV, Baruna's father contacted Sunil's parents and fixed a convenient time for the meeting. This is show both sides advanced and at one stage Baruna and Sunil got married.
Sabbir, 37, and Tamanna, 30, also have the same story to tell. They got married two years ago. They came to know each other through a matchmaking agency. The couple is happy with the agency they got married through.
Nowadays people are very busy indeed. It is not possible for everybody to find out a life partner. So, they want to have partners through martchmaking agencies, also called marriage media.
Everyone is not happy with marriage media. For instance. Belayet Hossain, 57, has a whole lot of complaints against them. He went to quite a few agencies to have bridegroom for his daughter, but he didn't get any. On top of it, he found their process a bit confusing.
Many others say that marriage media charge excessive fees and even they demand fees from both sides. Marriage media take Tk 2,000 in membership fee and after the marriage they take Tk 10,000 to 15,000.
Some other allegations are also there against the marriage media. They confuse people showing their clients false bio-data, providing false information and frequent changing of telephone numbers.
Recently, news of cheating by marriage media is getting good coverage both in print and electronic media due to the ongoing anti-graft campaign.
Mona Lisa, a worker of a matchmaking firm, recently hit the headlines. She is blamed for portraying herself as a prospective bride sometimes from Canada, sometimes from the UK and sometimes from the USA.
She used to meet the clients at different locations and take a good amount of money from them assuring to take them abroad with her.
No one really knows for sure how many matchmaking firms are there in capital Dhaka. One will get so many ads. of matchmaking firms in the newspapers. Interestingly, most of the ads. contain mobile phone numbers without names. And the contents of the advertisements are found full of lies.
So, there has been a mixed reaction to the role being played by the matchmaking firms. When some appreciate their business, some others come up with complaints of harassment.
Professor Abu Bakar Siddique, a teacher of Rajshahi University, says like many other organisations there is a need for matchmaking firms and they should work for the welfare of the society.
He says these organisations should provide people with a clear idea and correct information about prospective brides and bridegrooms. They must not confuse anybody. Marriage is a very important matter one's life. Cheating over marriage is a serious crime and the cheats must be punished.
Professor Siddique further says matchmaking firms will have to be much more accountable. And there should be an arrangement to constantly monitor these organisations. Only then people will be benefited by matchmaking firms.
The actual number of matchmaking firms is not available as those are not registered. As there is no mechanism in place to regulate them, many such firms have sprung up without any rules and regulations.
Syed Julfiker Hossain, proprietor of Sanai Marriage Media says, 'they are planning to form an association of matchmaking firms to check cheating in the name of matchmaking'.
He says matchmaking firms should be registered to make them accountable. 'We've proposed to the government a name, Marriage Media Welfare Associations. for registration. We do hope we'll get the no-objection certificate very soon.'
There are marriage media in many countries in the world. Even in neighbouring India, matchmaking firms are working with reputation. So, there is no reason why they would not be successful in Bangladesh.
The existing matchmaking firms face many problems, including the absence of a government-approved association, lack of specific guidelines, fees, tendency among clients to conceal information. intimidation and negative impression about marriage media.
There is no denying that matchmaking has become a profession now. So, people expect that the matchmaking firms would do their business with professionalism and a service-oriented mentality.
NewsNetwork
But who will Sunil Marry? He has no affair with any woman. One day his colleague Raihan took him to a matchmaking agency. Thinking long and hard, he became a member of that agency.
After a week, Sunil received a phone call from the agency and he went there. It was settled that he would go to see a 27-year-old prospective bride, Baruna Roy, the following day. On completion of her Master's degree from Eden College, Baruna now works in an advertising firm.
Her father, a civil servant, took the service of the matchmaking agency to marry his daughter off. Having a look at Sunil's CV, Baruna's father contacted Sunil's parents and fixed a convenient time for the meeting. This is show both sides advanced and at one stage Baruna and Sunil got married.
Sabbir, 37, and Tamanna, 30, also have the same story to tell. They got married two years ago. They came to know each other through a matchmaking agency. The couple is happy with the agency they got married through.
Nowadays people are very busy indeed. It is not possible for everybody to find out a life partner. So, they want to have partners through martchmaking agencies, also called marriage media.
Everyone is not happy with marriage media. For instance. Belayet Hossain, 57, has a whole lot of complaints against them. He went to quite a few agencies to have bridegroom for his daughter, but he didn't get any. On top of it, he found their process a bit confusing.
Many others say that marriage media charge excessive fees and even they demand fees from both sides. Marriage media take Tk 2,000 in membership fee and after the marriage they take Tk 10,000 to 15,000.
Some other allegations are also there against the marriage media. They confuse people showing their clients false bio-data, providing false information and frequent changing of telephone numbers.
Recently, news of cheating by marriage media is getting good coverage both in print and electronic media due to the ongoing anti-graft campaign.
Mona Lisa, a worker of a matchmaking firm, recently hit the headlines. She is blamed for portraying herself as a prospective bride sometimes from Canada, sometimes from the UK and sometimes from the USA.
She used to meet the clients at different locations and take a good amount of money from them assuring to take them abroad with her.
No one really knows for sure how many matchmaking firms are there in capital Dhaka. One will get so many ads. of matchmaking firms in the newspapers. Interestingly, most of the ads. contain mobile phone numbers without names. And the contents of the advertisements are found full of lies.
So, there has been a mixed reaction to the role being played by the matchmaking firms. When some appreciate their business, some others come up with complaints of harassment.
Professor Abu Bakar Siddique, a teacher of Rajshahi University, says like many other organisations there is a need for matchmaking firms and they should work for the welfare of the society.
He says these organisations should provide people with a clear idea and correct information about prospective brides and bridegrooms. They must not confuse anybody. Marriage is a very important matter one's life. Cheating over marriage is a serious crime and the cheats must be punished.
Professor Siddique further says matchmaking firms will have to be much more accountable. And there should be an arrangement to constantly monitor these organisations. Only then people will be benefited by matchmaking firms.
The actual number of matchmaking firms is not available as those are not registered. As there is no mechanism in place to regulate them, many such firms have sprung up without any rules and regulations.
Syed Julfiker Hossain, proprietor of Sanai Marriage Media says, 'they are planning to form an association of matchmaking firms to check cheating in the name of matchmaking'.
He says matchmaking firms should be registered to make them accountable. 'We've proposed to the government a name, Marriage Media Welfare Associations. for registration. We do hope we'll get the no-objection certificate very soon.'
There are marriage media in many countries in the world. Even in neighbouring India, matchmaking firms are working with reputation. So, there is no reason why they would not be successful in Bangladesh.
The existing matchmaking firms face many problems, including the absence of a government-approved association, lack of specific guidelines, fees, tendency among clients to conceal information. intimidation and negative impression about marriage media.
There is no denying that matchmaking has become a profession now. So, people expect that the matchmaking firms would do their business with professionalism and a service-oriented mentality.
NewsNetwork