Usha was born into an orthodox, conservative family that placed a high premium on education but an even higher value on marriage. She was sent to the best schools and colleges, but it was always made clear to her that marriage was the prime objective in her life. To this end, she was taught music, sewing and the household arts. By the time she had completed her education, her parents had arranged her marriage with a highly eligible young man, living and working in the US. The only son of well placed parents, with a family background similar to Usha’s, the marriage seemed ideal.
How wrong they were! Immediately after the wedding, the young man returned to his job in New York. Usha followed as soon as all her papers were in order and the requisite formalities complete. But when she landed in New York some months later, she was met by her husband who handed her a return ticket. “I am sorry to do this to you,” he said, “but I have been living for sometime with an American girl whom I propose to marry shortly.” Too scared to tell his parents the truth, he had decided to go through a farcical wedding ceremony rather than invite their censure.
One could say that Usha had a lucky escape from marriage to such a spineless and despicable man. But this is not how she viewed it. Devastated at this unimaginable turn of events, and aware that her ultra-conservative background had now doomed her to a life of spinsterhood, she had a nervous breakdown. Overnight, from being a bright young girl, she became a bitter, sharp-tongued, unpleasant woman.
Usha’s story is not an unusual one. Parents, drawn by the magnet of dollar-earning grooms, arrange marriages for their daughters with them. But distance prevents them from investigating the prospective groom adequately. Consequently, hundreds of Indian brides are abandoned or abused by their NRI husbands every year — often after the payment of huge dowries. But now comes a news report from Andhra Pradesh that with family courts snowed under with complaints of desertion and ill treatment by NRI husbands, the police have decided to take action.
As a result of talks between the foreign ministry and governments abroad, Interpol has agreed to issue red-corner notices to the police in the US, the UK and other European countries for husbands guilty of ill treating or deserting their Indian wives, which could lead to their extradition. This should act as a powerful deterrent. While the ministry for overseas Indian affairs has decided to publish a booklet advising parents on how to avoid being duped by NRI grooms, those NRI grooms who see girls from home as easy pickings, will soon be forced to mend their ugly ways.
