Indo-Asian News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, December 1, 2003: Seventy-four percent of teenage girls in Kerala think that a boyfriend is a good idea but 98 percent prefer an arranged marriage, according to a recent survey conducted by Vanita, a leading women’s magazine in the state. The survey covered women between the ages of 17 and 20 in college campuses in the three major cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. Besides the fact that girls might like boyfriends but would like to go in for a conventional arranged match because love marriages were too risky, the survey noted that Kochi was found to be the most cosmopolitan. According to the study, 20 percent of teenage girls in Kochi regularly dated and an overwhelming 83 percent currently had a boyfriend. Of all surveyed 31 percent said having a boyfriend was “totally right,” while 43 percent said it was “more or less right.” However questioned further, 77 percent declared they had never had a physical relationship of any kind at all with their boyfriend, not even touching.