Of course, there is no concept of arranged marriage in Western world. For Westerners who don’t understand arranged marriages, worry not, this is a quick primer for you.
After the current experience of house hunting in Germany, I thank my stars that I did not have to go through arranged marriage. To understand why I say that let me explain the housing situation in Germany first.
The Institutes have limited accomodation and they prefer to give it to Bachelor degree courses. This accounts for only 4,000 lucky students out of the 40,000+ students in the university. The city of Erlangen itself has a population of 120,000. So, getting a place to stay is difficult.
I have already received a rejection for the university accomodation – the first in the string of rejections that followed. I am currently looking for a place to stay in the open market.
Germans call shared apartments WG (pronounced as Vee-Ghe). These are regular apartments where each person has their own room and the residents share common areas like the restroom and kitchen.
Here’s how the process works. There are a couple of sites out there where people post the availability of WGs and we can apply. The application procedure is similar to a marriage application in Shaadi.com (Indian arranged marriage site) with a short Bio-Data. They would like to know you before they talk to you.
Some sites that I have been using are
The rejection rate is notoriously high.
You need to apply with a Bio-data. There will be hundreds of application for beautiful WG. You need to attract the attention of the roommates with an interesting Bio with skills you bring. You need to vibe with them!
Then the current tenants will look for compatibility with you. If they shortlist your bio-data, they add you to a queue. You get to see the WG on a video call.
If both parties like the initial communication then the roommates would like to have an interview with you.
If you are older than 35 the number of WGs available reduces drastically. I have applied to more than 75 apartments! Tenants have ignored me more than 65 times and rejected me outright 10 times.
After all this, I think I have made it to the final interview for one apartment. The interview is tomorrow with my prospective room mates – 1 Indian lady, 1 German lady and 1 German man. I am more nervous than a 36 years old unmarried bride at the matchmaking event.
Westerners find the concept of arranged marriage difficult to understand. So, just re-read this blog. Replace WG with bride/groom and roommates with in-laws. Then you have it: an arranged marriage!
Please pray for me! 🙏😰🙏 I really like that WG
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