Every Sunday morning millions of Indians settle down with a cup of tea and the special weekend is- sues of their newspapers, just as Americans do. But here, with the marriage season approaching, many of them turn quickly to a Sunday feature that is particularly Indian—the columns and columns of marriage advertisements in which young people look for husbands and wives.
"Beautiful Brahman girl wanted for bank officer from well-connected family," one says. "Vegetarian man (doctor, engineer preferred) for church-educated girl with light complexion," says another. "Solid 25-year-old, salary four figures, wants tall, charming, educated Punjabi," says a third.
This is a relatively modern change in the age-old custom of the arranged marriage. The thousands of advertisements published each week increasingly reflect social changes that are coming to this traditional society. For example, although women are still usually described in terms of appearance, or skills in "the wifely arts", information about their earning power is entering more and more of the advertisements. This reflects the arrival in India of the working wife.
Divorce, which used to be almost unheard of in India, is sometimes now mentioned in the advertisements as in the case of a woman whose advertisement in a New Delhi newspaper explained that she had been "the innocent party" when her marriage broke up.
Because the custom of the dowry (marriage payment) is now illegal, some advertisements say "no dowry", or "simple marriage", which means the same thing. However, the fathers of many bridegrooms still require it.
As a sign of the slight loosening of the rigid caste (social class) system, a number of advertisements promise "caste not important", or "girl' s abilities will be main consideration". The majority of them, however, still require not only caste, such as Brahman or Kshatriya, but also a certain home region or ethnic origin.
In a land where light skin is often regarded as socially preferable, many also require that a woman have a "wheat-color" complexion or that a man be "tall, fair and handsome".
Advertisements are placed and eagerly read by a wide range of people in the upper classes, mostly in cities. Many of them receive dozens of answers. "There's nothing embarrassing about it," explained a Calcutta businessman advertising for a son-in-law. "It's just another way of broadening the contacts and increasing the possibility of doing the best one can for one's daughter."
Because of high unemployment and a generally poor standard of living here, one of the best attractions a marriage advertisement can offer is a permit to live abroad, especially in Canada or the United States. A person who has one can get what he wants.
One recent Sunday in Madras, for example, a Punjabi engineer living in San Francisco advertised for a "beautiful slim bride with lovely features knowing music and dance". And a man whose advertisement said that he had an American immigration permit was able to say, "Only girls from rich, well-educated families need apply."
The main idea of Paragraph 3 is that ______.

A. India's society is changing
B. women work
C. arranged marriages are an age-old custom
D. working wife arrives