For Matrimonial Purposes [Paperback]

Anju wants a husband. Equally important, her entire family wants Anju to have a husband. Her life in Bombay, where a marriage can be arranged in a matter of hours, is almost solely devoted to this quest, with her anxious mother hauling her from holy site to holy site in order to consult and entreat swamis and astrologers. As Anju’s twenties slip away, she’s fast becoming a spinster by her culture’s standards, so she moves to New York City to work in fashion.

For Matrimonial Purposes is the hilarious story of Anju’s journey, her quest for love, and the choices that she must make while trying to remain true to herself and satisfy her family and tradition.

It’s Sex and the City where sex is replaced with saris and samosas.  —Seattle Weekly

Hilariously funny…a reader can’t help but end up rooting for Anju in her quest.  —L.A. Weekly

My Big Fat Bombay Wedding…with a fine ear for dialogue and a tender wit.  —Kirkus Reviews

Kavita Daswani has been a fashion correspondent for CNN, CNBC Asia, and Women’s Wear Daily, has written for the Los Angeles Times and the International Herald Tribune, among many other publications, and has been the fashion editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.One

The normal religious marriage was and still is arranged by the parents of the couple, after much consultation, and the study of omens, horoscopes and auspicious physical characteristics. . . . While a husband should be at least twenty, a girl should be married immediately before puberty.

-a. l. basham, the wonder that was India

My grandmother was married off two days shy of herlÃ"