The Salt Lake Tribune, Monday, July 4, 1960 The Salt Lake Gribune WW omen India Marriages Are... ‘Fixed’ From the Start By Judy Morris was a charming complement Tribune Staff Writer in silk benarshi... - . » A red benarshi shari ‘But the bride didn’t sewas selected by the bride for lect her husband! her _wedding. .The bodice |...The bride is the former. Manisha Majumdar of India. She and her bridegroom, Dr. Barid Mukherjee, are living’ in a comfortable apartment ~near the University of Utah where he is a professor in genetics. It was “fixed” from the start. Barid, 6’1’ — tall for -a native of India — is the son of a rice grower; his wife, the daughter of an oil Gitieial. iru ‘In the tradition of India they were married after hav- ing talked another alone with just a few one hours. Went to India - When Barid went back to India last summer, he had | lived in the United States five years. He had his Ph.D., and since had taught biology at Westminster College. His charming and graceful wife didn’t know him — but her parents were good friends. Their parents had compared Barid’s and Manisha’s (“Ruby”) personalities, care- fully weighing _tempera- ments, interests, inte 1lligence. They looked at their _ similar economic status, considered the couple’s educational and cultural back- grounds, and decided it was the right combination. Barid and Ruby never had a date (there is no dating system in India). After be- ing introduced, their meet' ings together were in either Barid Mukherjee and his lovely wife hold her bridal veil as they recall how their marriage was prearranged in India. home and in the presence of the parents. Married They were : by Priest married by a Hindu_ priest, and Dr..Mukherjee brought his wife to the United States. She is a graduate of the University of Calcutta and is now work- ing on her master’s degree in philosophy at U. of U. Other marriages, where parents know no prospective partner for their son or daughter, are results of answers received from India’s ‘counterpart to our . “classified ads”. “Sometimes the parents receive hundreds of answers they have to choose from,” said Mukhergee.” “Could Have Refused Because of the careful selection of mates, he continued, divorce is almost unheard of in India (though it is legal). Dr. Mukhergee and his wife could easily have refused to marry, and the par- ents would simply have ‘| looked for other spouses. But neither vetoed and they’re now just as happy as two bugs in a Kahlistan rug.