Groom hunting at an unusual place

UP matrimony market

If you thought that those flocking the UPPSC office and nearby shops were anxious applicants or examinees looking for their roll numbers in the list of successful candidates, you are wrong.

They are the fathers and brothers looking for a suitable match for their daughters and sisters from among the successful candidates. The boys are selected on the basis of their caste, religion and the post for which they have been declared successful.

The enquirers then approach the babus in the UPPSC office and procure their addresses so that they or their parents can be contacted for further talks and negotiations, which of course include dowry demands.

“I am looking for a suitable match for my daughter....I think I may get a successful candidate who belongs to my caste,” said Ramananda Shukla as he scanned the list of the successful candidates. There are many like Shukla and they have come from all corners of the state.

There is virtually a race among the people to zero in on some suitable candidates and then contact their parents before any one else.

The candidates also know this. “There is a great demand for those who have been selected for the Provincial Civil Services followed by those qualifying for assistant sales tax commissioners post,” said D R Yadav, a selected canddiate.

Such is the demand of the list of the successful candidates that even the photo copy and stationery shops nearby keep a copy of the same.

“People flock the shops around the commission office for going through the list”, said Anjani Singh, whose shop is close to the commission office.

“It is an annual feature...people throng the place as soon as the results of a competitive examination is declared by the commission”, he said.

Earlier the parents used to visit “pandits” (priests) for fixing marriages but now you have to scan the list if you want a good match, Singh added.