At her first meal in a restaurant with her fiancee and his family, Lakshmi Gupta shone like a star. As they fumbled with the unfamiliar Italian menu, she guided them. When the spaghetti bolognese arrived, she showed them how to twirl the strands against a spoon to make a compact mouthful.
Ms Gupta's mother and father shot pleased looks at each other. The fianc?s family were impressed. The meal - the first formal dinner between the two families since the engagement - was a success.
'They had been a little snooty before that meal because they are richer than us. But they realised that Lakshmi had something different. She had polish. She knew how to behave in a restaurant and the proper way to eat,' said her proud father, Atul.
Mr Gupta, a shopkeeper in Rohini, a northern suburb of New Delhi, feels that Lakshmi will now make a 'perfect' wife. He had, after all, just spent 55,000 rupees (HK$8,500) on sending her on a six-month course at a finishing school that turns out 'ideal wives' for Indian husbands.
'My parents socialise mainly with relatives. We don't eat out much and haven't travelled outside India. Because my fianc?works for a multinational, they wanted me to learn how to entertain, groom myself, and cook nice meals for him and his family,' said Lakshmi, 24, an investment analyst.
Increasingly, the Indian middle class and the rich are sending their daughters to schools for 'good wives'. In India, young brides-to-be can have MBAs from Harvard and fly planes, but they must still also be good wives and daughters-in-law.