A woman can choose from a shoe, a sauce pan, a broomstick or a tomato to pummel her prospective groom. This may sound like a recipe for a battered husbands' support group, but in this case the women are the heroines.
The online game Angry Brides, launched by the Indian matrimonial website Shaadi.com and modelled on the popular app Angry Birds, is a fun way to make a serious point: the practice of demanding dowries is hurting families and society. Outlawed more than five decades ago, dowries are still integral to many Indian marriages, with brides' families paying impoverishing sums for the "privilege" of getting married. In Arab societies, it is often grooms' families that pay the dowries, but they are often still exorbitant.
Even more disturbing in India is the pattern of domestic violence, including murder, that is sometimes associated with dowries. In too many cases, "dowry" may be a euphemism for extortion.
This anachronism has no place in the modern day. And let's be honest: many grooms are lucky to win the hand of their betrothed in the first place. The idea that they should add a surcharge is absurd.
So, metaphorically speaking, we are all in favour of some well-placed missiles drumming some sense into society. Brides, and the rest of us too, should all be angry at this antiquated, unfair tradition.
