Good Advice

Good Advise is rarer than rubies

Many people think that arranged marriage is a very strange thing between two people; in most cases the women actually don’t know anything about their future husband, and in worst cases they haven’t even met them. So how is it possible to be in love if you don’t know each other? That question is a very good point to start; because everyday women are compelled to marry someone against their own will, some women feel bound to the marriage their parents have planned for them for several years or because of financial issues or even to avoid being ejected. Few women have the courage to actually run away from it all and start a new life somewhere else. If the women escape, the entire family is against them, and after that, they will not be seen as a part of the family.

“Good advice is rarer than rubies” is a story by Salman Rushdie. In overall it is about one of these women I just mentioned, who are forced into an arranged marriage. The main character in the story, Miss Rehana, is engaged to an Indian man who lives in Bradford, England. Like most of the women, Miss Rehana hasn’t met her fiancé yet. It’s her parents who have planned the whole thing before they died. The worst things are that the girls in their very early years are planned through their future, without having a single influence, on the choice their parents have taken for them. In this case, marriage is a security for Miss Rehana the rest of her life, her parents believes. They had to find someone who could take care of her when they were gone. In the story she gives clear indication that she is quite excited about her upcoming marriage. At the end of the history she smiles like never before, and it’s a sign of how happy she is to avoid the arranged marriage. Because most women really don’t want to implement it, they will make their own choices, though it’s almost impossible with the culture they have.
Miss Rehana should actually visit the embassy in order to gain access to move over to England to live with her unfamiliar fiancé, but instead she destroys her only opportunity to move anywhere. We hear about a man in the history, Muhammad Ali that actually helps Miss Rehana without getting paid, which is a rarity in his world. Normally he's cheating the poor Tuesday women who come to him and trust him, but for some reason, Miss Rehana is not like the others. We get told about her indescribable beauty through the history and it must be the most likely reason for Muhammad's behavior against her. It’s a very important element in the story because he helps her so she knows all the mistakes she has to do opposite the embassy, so she doesn’t need to travel away. “Good advice is rarer than rubies” brings up many important elements that are related to being somewhere between family rules and the old conventions and to be able to make your own choices in life.
But not all women feels the same as Miss Rehana, some actually think it's good to be deployed into an arranged marriage. They believe that we can be in love and live a long and happy life even if you do not know each other beforehand.
There are many requirements for the future man, the parents should look for one with the same culture and look for the same type of cast. So if you are a rich family, then you marry someone who is also from a rich family.
After reading Salman Rushdie's story one can only share his critical views, whether you are Indian or not. In a world like ours we all should be allowed to choose.