Just interesting in knowing both sides of the above question.

East Indian or Western Indian's ?

( No Disrespect, Just Uncertain )

Do you mean East Indian & the parents choose the spouse? Verses choosing your own?

Statistically, arranged marriages last longer or forever because it is usually cultural/ religious, & tend to be taken more seriously.

But, by my culture & religion, we marry who we want to.

Even better you have the choice to not marry,if you so choose.

Sheik.. I can't interfere here or influence a grown man if this is a cultural/religious issue/lifestyle choice. It is..just wrong.

Take it away Sheik...

Hyderabad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad/

Nice to see that people from outside India have commented on the post.

First i would like to point out that arranged marriages have nothing to do with any religion. It is a custom. People of different religions share similar customs in India. We are proud to be a true secular country. Arranged marriage is just a way to introduce a prospective bride & groom. It has been decades since bride & groom had no say in their marriage. The bride & groom once introduced, may meet any number of times before giving a go-ahead to their marriage. Thus you can say that they can date each other before taking a final decision. I agree that you may still find few rural backward Indian families in interior villages where parents still control who their child gets married to, but that is not real India. The primary reason for the same is lack of education & exposure. In arranged marriages, the bride & the groom generally belong to the same religion, caste, dialect, traditions & customs, have similar clothing & fooding habits and have similar social & economic standing ie. both families lead their life in a similar fashion. This is the reason for arranged marriages proving to be more successful.

Dating cannot be compared to arranged marriages. Is every one looking for a date searching for a life partner? No is the answer. Why does mingle ask you to clarify in your profile if you are looking for some one for marriage, a relationship, dating or an intimate encounter? This is because dating is very different from marriage. People dating can surely fall for his/her date which ultimately leads to marriage.

The right discussion can happen with the following question: Which is better, arranged marriage or love marriage? Both have pros & cons. What one needs to be careful about is that marriage is not only about the bride & the groom. It is about the unification of two families. Thus similarities between the two families, be it arranged or love marriage, plays a very important role in the overall success of the marriage.

You definitely asked the right question. I would like to point out that customs change over time. India today is gong through vary rapid change in all areas of life and it is important to reevaluate what works and what doesn't in this changing world. In my own humble opinion though the growing number of honor killings across India is strong evidence that the arranged marriage system isn't working any more and if it isn't scrapped it could lead to civil war. already you have lightly armed vigilantes taking the law into there own hands to protect women from abuse including forced marriage and honor killings. They might be doing the right thing but if one group can take the law into its own hands then everyone can and then there is no law.
these articles will explain more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulabi_Gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing#India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Hinduism#Modernity