Wedding Politics in India: With This Toilet, I Thee Wed

It used to be that the requirements for male suitors entering into a dialogue with the parents of their marriage-material daughters went something like this: no jail time, good manners, suitably educated and working a good job. (For starts, anyway.)

In India, however, it goes something like this: vegetarian, sober, good job and, one other thing, if you please: a toilet.

After "the financial liability," as the Washington Post points out that girls are to their families, the least the groom-to-be should manage to offer up (after being presented with the bride's dowry) is a toilet.

And should he not have the requisite plumbing to proffer? He might have to keep looking, as these 21st century Indian brides have their own power due to a confluence of factors such as a higher ratio of eligible bachelors to potential brides, and the fact that females are growing more financially independent as rates of education and good jobs are on the rise.

Bottom line: they can be picky and picky now, in India, means ""No loo? No 'I do,'" says Vimlas Sasva, in the piece, parroting an advertisement on the radio. She's only 18, but ever since the "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign started nearly two years ago, it's never too early for a young woman to get flush with excitement about her right to choose.

Photo courtesy Harpreet Padam@sxc.hu