By Sharanya Gopinathan
In August, we were talking about the amazing game Arranged!, conceptualised by a Pakistani woman named Nashra Balagamwalla, who was thinking about escaping an arranged marriage after her visa issues forced her to return from the US to Pakistan when she completed her studies there. In the game, players are meant to escape rishta aunties and arranged marriages, and Balagamwalla based it on her own experiences of trying to escape rishta aunties and nosy relatives, and her determination to avoid an arranged marriage at home. She says that several Pakistani women reached out to her because her game touched a chord within them and their own experiences.
Far less revolutionary but urgently giggle-inducing is the viral Indian Girl Arranged Marriage game. The app lets you have the full arranged marriage experience on your phone, and includes all the particular stages of the conventional Indian arranged marriage, like “phone calls”, engagement, face spa (for the bride), mehndi, makeup, mandap decoration, wedding and reception, and includes several salon games, dress up games and stylist session. And it allows you to dance manically at your own sangeet.
It’s surprisingly popular, although initial comments on the game’s page include complaints that the groom says sexist things like that he can’t permit his wife to work after marriage, while others feel that the makeup options were not good and hilariously, that the maang-tikka needed to be made bigger.