About 15 years ago, a friend of mine -- born and raised in the US, but spending a month or three every year back in India with his parents -- reached the point in life where his parents decided it was marrying time. He seemed to me to be a typical young American man, although obviously of Indian parentage, and his lifestyle was thoroughly American in every way, including girlfriends. Nonetheless, despite the tears in his eyes as he told me, he went back to India to meet and marry a woman chosen by his family, with virtually no input from him.

They're still married, apparently happy, and living here in the US; she's learned English and adapted to the US, their kids are beautiful, and my friend still insists that the tradition of arranged marriage ended with his own.

Who knows? When I compare him to myself -- I'd just gotten married for the third time, back when I met this friend, and I'm now recently divorced -- it's hard to argue. He's definitely still married, and seems happy and content with it. I've decided that I suck at choosing marriage partners, and won't try again. Fortunately, I'm old enough it probably won't make much of a difference... but I have good reason to doubt that romance is enough to base a marriage on.