The Quest for Existence in Kavita Daswani’s ‘For Matrimonial Purposes’

Abstract

The novel, For Matrimonial Purposes, focuses on the topic of arranged marriage for Anju, who has passed the marriageable age and has not yet been able to retrieve an acceptable alliance within her culture. On the basis of research, she goes to America hoping to find an alliance faster than at home, in India. Though time goes by, there are no suitable alliances coming her way, but as a fashion reporter she succeeds professionally. Her career gives her an independent identity, of which she is proud, but at the same time she is conscious of the insecurity of her parent and her own isolation and desire to get married.