They succeed for the same reason every online resource does: They offer convenience and expediency in an arena with high demand for it.

It’s connubial bliss for a 21st-century India, where, by some estimates, 90 percent of marriages still classify as “arranged”—in other words, established on factors other than mutual love and attraction between the bride and groom.

Call it acclimating to the Indian single life after coming of age in the West, where India is often seen as a country of arranged marriages and impenetrable glass ceilings.What those factors are, exactly, has changed as the country has, but the crux of the matter remains constant: if you’re an Indian woman, it’s statistically likely that your parents will choose the man with whom you spend the rest of your life.A Jewish friend of mine remarked once, only half joking, that he believed Indians are the true Chosen People. I lived in India for about three years and my husband (currently known as my hus Pad, thanks to his appropriating the i Pad he "gave me," -- but that is another column) is from New Delhi, which, in addition to providing me with lots of Indian friends and in-laws, have given me a pretty good perspective on the desirability of the people from the world's largest democracy -- and how to woo them. If you are pinched for time, you can simply claim SRK is your favorite and move on. You don't want your date to think that if things go south, you will resort to stalking.If there’s truth to caricature, then call my joining the online matrimony network a modern-day leap onto a bandwagon of millennia-old social custom.“Shaadi” is the Hindi word for wedding; is, intuitively, a wedding arranged via the Internet.It’s one of more than 100 Indian websites that comprise the country’s thriving online matrimonial market, where an individual can browse for his or her ideal spouse among a catalog of potential candidates organized by the personal information that apparently matters most: religion, caste, income, fairness of skin, family background, and so on. Unlike online dating services, which at least superficially foster some sort of romantic connection, and which are effectively nonexistent in India, matrimonial websites are predicated on the idea that the first meeting between two paired users will be to chat about their wedding.Call me old school, but the idea of meeting strangers online and discussing things with them just doesn’t click me.However, looking at the popularity of these online dating websites in India, I decided to experience the ‘never before experienced’ arena myself.