After three years of dutifully waiting for her parents to find a husband for her, Anisa Tiwari took matters into her own hands. After specifying her requirements - religion, language, region, caste, and educational qualifications - she registered with a matrimonial website and sat back and waited.
The replies flooded into her inbox. 'My parents' social circle isn't huge. They don't go out much. I realised we were fishing in a very small pond. It was better to go to a matrimonial website where there are thousands of suitable men to choose from,' said Ms Tiwari, 23, a marketing assistant at a New Delhi hotel.
The internet has transformed the way marriages have been arranged in India for millennia.
Traditionally, parents would spread the word that they were looking for a suitable match, and this 'alliance', as it was often called, would be found with no input from the boy or girl concerned.
When matrimonial sites appeared a few years ago, suddenly young Indians realised they offered a much more appealing format. They could search for someone of whom their parents would approve but also inject their own preferences and tastes.
