Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Best Matrimonial Sites For NRIs

NRI stands for Non-resident Indian. A person born in India, but stayed outside India for a period of more than 6 months is called NRI.
In common usage, children of NRI parents are called NRIs, though they are not born in India. PIO (Person of Indian Origin) is the appropriate term for children of NRI parents who hold a citizenship of the settled country.
India is recognized by the UN as having the largest diaspora among all other countries. Indian immigrants are found largely in the USA, Canada, UK, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa, Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Srilanka and Australia. Some of the famous NRI personalities are Sir Ben Kingsley, Freddie Mercury, Navanethem Pillay, Madhur Jaffrey, Kalpana Chawla, Lilly Singh, Aishveryaa Nidhi, Nicol David to name a few.

Narendra Modi addressing NRIs

Brief History of Immigration:

Indians started migrating to the East during Ashoka times(304 BC - 232 BC). During the invasions of Ashoka on the Eastern India, some people have fled as far as Bali in Indonesia. This was the earliest known instance of Indian migration to South East Asia.

The second major immigration happened during British rule in India, when Indians were sent for labor work and as slaves to British ruled African countries, Europe and America. Indians settlers in South Africa, Mauritius, Britain, West Indies are a result of this migration.

It was in 1960's when the first generation of Indians started moving to America for finding better opportunities. Starting 1990's young engineers have started immigrating to US for jobs generated by IT boom. India is the second, only next to China in sending countries for tertiary students.

During the Oil boom in 1970's, Indians migrated to the Middle East in various jobs in Oil industry.
Gujarati NRIs in East Africa- 1906

NRI Marriages and Matrimony Sites:

Due to the small size of NRI population in the settled country, it sometimes becomes difficult to find a matching bride or groom for NRIs and PIOs.
The purpose of this article is to help NRIs find their soulmate from a smaller section of Indian community settled outside India. With the growth of IT and internet, now NRIs have better prospects of finding their matches using matrimonial sites. This article gives details on the step-by-step process to find your life partner through these matrimonial sites.

Why Matrimonial Sites:

Arranged marriage system has had deep roots in India. If you have Indian origin (PIO), your parents lean towards finding a bride/groom from your Indian community when you reach that marriage age. So, don't get perplexed when your parents start looking matches for you from your own caste. If you are NRI staying out for India for job purposes, you need assistance in searching your life partner. This is where the matrimonial sites help NRIs and PIO in matchmaking.
Matrimonial sites are similar to dating sites. They help in finding a bride/groom , matching your preferences easily. There are many sites that boast about their NRI matchmaking services, but I have selected only 3 quality sites that are worth trying.

Best NRI Matrimony Sites:


Top Pick: Matchfinder.in

Matchfinder - NRI matrimony site

Matchfinder.in is one of the quality NRI matrimonial sites in India. They provide NRI matchmaking services for NRIs and PIOs. They have their corporate office in Hyderabad and provide good customer support. They have been active since 2013.
Match finder has membership plans that cater to the specific needs of NRIs and PIOs. They create customer specific campaign for every registered user and provide reports regularly during the membership period.

They use latest technology to locate a bride or groom matching the profile's community/caste. Suppose you are a groom living in New Jersey and belong to Agarwal community, Matchfinder creates campaigns, uses advertising mediums and some secret methods to find Agarwal brides in New Jersey area.
If you change your mind to find brides in New Jersey and New York, Matchfinder will modify your campaign to find matching brides from New Jersey and New York. Best thing about these campaigns is that they work for every NRI that are located in any part of the world.

Pros:
1. Customer specific campaigns
2. Progress reports on campaigns
3. Affordable ( Less than 100$)
4. Good customer support
5. Great success rate (>95%)
6. Easy Payment option through Paypal

Cons:
1. They do not have offices abroad
2. They are relatively new

2nd Best: Bharat Matrimony


Bharat Matrimony is a leading matrimonial site in India. They are pioneers in matrimony business. They have a large database of NRI grooms and brides.

Pros:
1. Large database of NRI community
2. Reliable

Cons:
1. No customer specific campaigns
2. Specific countries only
3. Subscription fees

3rd Best: Shaadi.com


Shaadi.com is another leading matrimony site in India. They too have a large database of NRI profiles, of which only some might be active.

Pros:

1. Large database of brides and grooms
2. One of the oldest matrimony providers

Cons:
1. No customer specific campaigns
2. They have presence mostly in North India

Looking at the above, Matchfinder seems to be a clear winner since they can run customer specific campaigns. There are also other matrimony websites like Jeevansathi.com and SimplyMarry which provide NRI matrimonial services.


Tips to find brides and grooms for NRIs:

Tips For NRI Brides and Grooms

1. Once you register a free profile on these sites, reach out to the customer care and inquire on the membership plans available. Check with them specifically if they can assure you to find NRI brides or grooms from your city. If the answer is yes, proceed to pay.

2.  After you become a paid member, fill out your complete biodata. Your photo is a very important piece of your biodata information. Don't miss to upload a clear and full size photo.

3. Fill your expectations in the "Partner Preferences" section. Mention your VISA details and your plans about settling country.

4. Once you find a matching bride or groom, it is always recommended to ask your parents to take the communication forward. Involving parents in these matters brings seriousness and trust to your life partner searching efforts.

5. Last but not the least, you should wait to finding your soulmate. Don't get upset with rejections and delays in getting response from the brides and grooms.




Saturday, May 28, 2016

Agarwal History and Marriage Traditions

Agarwal History:


"Agarwal" is the mercantile community found in Northern states of India such as Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. They claim origin from Vaishnava community, but in the medieval period some of them converted to Jainism. It is said that king Agrasena adopted Vanika Dharma and the people who followed the Dharma in the later years got the name Agarwal.
Agarwal literally means children of "Agra"sena. There are 18 gotras in Agarwal, the main ones being Bansal, Goel, Garg, Jindal etc. Some of the gotras migrated to Rajasthan which in the later period evolved as Marwari community. Maheshwari, Khandelwal and Oswal are other communities which are closely related to Agarwal community.

Agarwal community is treated with high respect for their business skills and higher economic status.
Some well-known personalities from this community include Lakshmi Mittal, Jamnalal Bajaj, Ram Manohar Lohia and many.

Agarwal Marriages:


Agarwal marriages are celebrated with much pomp and fashion. Usually the marriages last for few days with so many events conducted through the entire week. 

During the engagement ceremony "Sagai" the brides mother applies Tilak to groom. The father of Agarwal bride gives gifts such as sword, clothes and sweets to the groom. Mehfils are the dance celebration events that happen at the brides and grooms house before the wedding

Agarwal marriages start with Ganesh puja and Ghari puja. Turmeric is applied to both  Agarwal bride and groom during this event.  On the wedding day, Agarwal grooms leaves for wedding venue which is called Baraat. 

Agarwal Brides Preparation:

The brides wear Lehenga Choli or traditional Indian saree on the wedding day. They apply Mehendi and decorate beautifully with jewelry. The bridal Lehenga is usually stuffed with embellishments to give it a rich look.

Agarwal Grooms Preparation:

Agarwal Grooms either wear Sherwani and Kurta Pyjama for the wedding. They wear watches and a chain or ring as appropriate.

Agarwal Matrimony:

If you are looking for Agarwal brides for marriage or Agarwal grooms, we recommend Matchfinder which has numerous verified matrimony profiles of this community.







Thursday, May 26, 2016

Brief History of Arya Vysya Community and Marriages

History of Arya Vysyas:

Arya Vysya also called as Komti is a trading community living in South Indian state Andhra Pradesh. They are equivalent to Bania , Vaishya communities found in Northern Indian States. There are two versions of stories on the etymology of Komati.

Majority of Komatis inhabited the region around Godavari river , which also was called as Gomati. Over the period of time, Gomati got transformed to its present form Komati.
Another version says that Komati community people were historically traders and wanted to be associated with Jainism, a highly respected trading community in North India. Komati people adopted Jainism for whom Gomata(Cow) is considered as divine. Gomata, during the course of time has changed to Komati.

There are  two clans with in Komati: Kalinga and Gavara.

Arya Vysya Occupation:

Arya Vysya community is known for trading and business. They are known for money management and popular as money lenders. Many young boys and girls of Komati community work as Chartered Accounts which requires lot of precision accounting skills.

Arya Vysya Marriages:

Arya Vysya community parents prefer to get their children married in the same community. They follow Hindu marriage traditions. Arya Vysya community brides and grooms have high literacy rate. 
Marriage commences with an engagement between Arya Vysya bride family and groom family. The brides get decorated beautifully in the traditional saree for the wedding. Maternal uncles of Arya Vysya brides bring them to marriage hall in a basket.
After chanting mantras the groom ties the knot around the bride that signifies the union of the bride and groom. In the last event of the marriage, the groom shows the star "Arundathi" to bride in the night sky, which is considered as sacred.
If you are looking for Arya Vysya brides for marriage or grooms, the author of this article recommends Matchfinder.