Dowry: Yes or No?

dowry. one of the things that sets male minds to worry when talking about marriage. dowry is the main essence of the story A Question of Dowry and Everything's Arranged. thanks to these two stories, i have know more about the importance and significance of dowry in Indian wedding. as i been taught, dowry is supposed to be as a security or insurance to the bride when she is married to the bridegroom. but what i had seen previously and even in these two stories, dowry are nothing but a bump in the road for the bridegroom's side especially the bridegroom.

in the story Everything's Arranged, the dowry acts as a bribe for the bridegroom family so that the bride, Rukumani can get married faster. the bride was increased up until $20,000 just to stop the marriage from going on. it's because there's rumours saying that Rukumani is in love with another guy, a Chinese. it is so unfair that the supposed-to-be-for-good-use dowry is now being used to stop another marriage happening. plus, one that's based on true love. not because of names or wealth.

Meanwhile in the A Question of Dowry,  the dowry acts as a gateway to marriage. no dowry, no marriage. this happens in the story when Mr. Ramachandran couldn't afford to buy a necklace for his daughter to be used as a dowry. he asked opinion from Thiruchelvam and he straight away canceled the wedding without second thoughts. it's really disappointing for everybody and for me as well. i strongly feel that dowry alone is not the key to a marriage. of course money is important but money can be find later in life after the marriage. it is love that really matters to the marriage, not money.