After the Rishta Aunty Leaves

Arranged marriage, as it really happens today

Ananya Deshpande2 episodes2 min of audio96 playsEpisodic

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S1 · E2Sep 27, 20260:5153 plays Preview

Forty Rishtas and Forty Noes

Shreya, 33, a surgeon in Mumbai, has turned down 40 proposals since 2017. She talks about why, what her parents say now, and the one she still thinks about.

S1 · E1Jun 26, 20260:5443 plays Members

Three Meetings and a Yes

Ananya tells her own story: a biodata her mother wrote, three meetings with Nikhil, and a yes she gave before she was sure. Nikhil joins to say what he was thinking.

About the show

Ananya Deshpande had an arranged marriage in 2019, after meeting her husband three times and his family once. She is still married, mostly happily, and tired of hearing the subject described as either a horror story or a fairy tale. After the Rishta Aunty Leaves is a weekly interview show about arranged marriage as it actually happens now across India and the diaspora: the biodata, the first meeting with parents in the next room, saying no and what it costs, the dowry conversation that still happens under other names, falling in love after the wedding, and the marriages that did not work and how people left. Guests are real couples, single people navigating the process, parents, and occasionally a matchmaker. Episodes are 35 to 45 minutes, recorded in Pune and over calls to Mumbai, London and Toronto. It is for anyone inside this system, thinking about it, or trying to understand a friend who is.

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