Two very different stories in the papers.

This from the DNA talks about how the price for restoring the hymen - Hymenoplasty - is Rs.20,000/- and quotes a doctor saying:

“Young Gujarati girls turn up with the sole intention of keeping their future in-laws under the illusion that they are virgins,’’….. “I get queries from Indians in the US and Britain. If the practice becomes a trend, we will strike gold,”

And this one from the ToI talks about how men from Punjab, purchase brides from the North East - they have to look for brides from afar, coz they have systematically murdered the women in their own communities - for Rs.25,000!

For, now in its swirling fields play ‘chinky’ children, born of an urgent union between Sikh fathers and north-eastern mothers. These days, due to the unimaginably skewed sex ratios — in Fatehgarh Sahib, for instance, there are just 754 girls for 1,000 boys — Punjabi and Haryanvi men scout far and wide for brides.

(aside: Ahem, why is there a comma after the for and "urgent unions" - sounds like a bad line from a Gothic Romance. Gosh, who edits this stuff. )

So 20k for fixing a hymen and 25k for fixing a bride.

Tags: India, Society