Hilarious matchmaking ad for woman seeking a husband goes viral
A matchmaking ad in an Indian newspaper has gone viral thanks to some of the attributes the woman said she was looking for in a husband, which included: handsome, rich, a feminist, non-farting and non-burping to name a few.
Often, Indian matchmaking ads like this would include things such as the person's height, skin colour, job, their family's wealth and caste among other things, so this raised eyebrows for being totally different!
Comedian Aditi Mittal shared the ad on Twitter, joking, "Did someone put out a matrimonial ad for me?"
The person who'd written the ad was a self-described "opinionated feminist" in her 30s who has short hair, piercings and "works in the social sector against [capitalism]".
They asked for a "[handsome], well built, strictly 25-28-year-old only son with [established] business, bungalow/at least 20-acre farmhouse".
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The ad finished, "Should know cooking. No farters/burpers please. Write to curbyourpatriarchy@gmail.com."
Twitter users were sure the ad was a joke with one user writing, "It's a troll for sure!"
"Sarcasm... Google it," another said.
"No farters or burpers? What they want a robot?" someone else joked.
"Chef's kiss," a fourth added.
"Reading the actual ads around this makes me sad. These ads should be about personality and interests, not appearance, salary and caste," another wrote.
However, the BBC has confirmed the ad was a prank between a brother, sister and her best friend, which they found out after emailing the address shared on the ad.
The trio didn't want to share their real names but told the publication their 'opinionated feminist' is Sakshi, who came up with the idea with her brother Srijan and friend Damyanti.
Srijan explained the ad was "a small prank we played for Sakshi's 30th birthday".
"Turning 30 is a milestone, especially because of all the conversation in our society around marriage. As you turn 30, your family and society start putting pressure on you to get married and settle down," he said.
Sakshi added that she does indeed have short hair and piercings, works in the social sector and is opinionated, but the burping and farting part was a family joke.
The ad appeared in a number of newspapers in northern Indian cities and cost around $230, which Srijan said would have been spent on presents and celebrations if they weren't in lockdown.
The night before her birthday, Srijan gave Sakshi a paper scroll.
"When I unrolled it, it had the email address - curbyourpatriarchy@gmail.com - and the password. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that," she said. "In the morning, Srijan brought me a copy of the newspaper with the page opened to the matrimonial columns and we had a good laugh. It was a fun prank."
Sakshi received a number of responses, with most people understanding it was a joke and "thought it was funny", however, in India feminism is misunderstood as men-hating and as a result the ad also triggered a number of people who sent rude and abusive messages.
Sakshi said she was called "a gold digger" and a "hypocrite" because she's "anti-capitalist but wants a rich husband", many also told her "to earn your own money".
Others called her "toxic" with one person even saying she "sounded fat" and that "all feminists are idiots".
Damyanti explained that in India 90 per cent of marriages are still arranged and added, "Everyone wants a well-settled groom. But to see it laid out clearly triggered so many people. They were enraged."
Sakshi said she thought the ad bruised a lot of egos, "You can't say such things out loud. Men ask for tall, slim beautiful brides all the time, they brag about their wealth, but when the tables are turned, they can't stomach it. How could a woman set such criteria?"
She added that she thought the same kind of people who were triggered are the same kind of people who write ads looking for "slim, fair, beautiful" brides.
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