by Kai Kazi
“I own this place.” She nodded with a grin,
“Where’s Jalil?” I smiled, “He must be proud?” Her face fell,
“We…” she shrugged, “It didn’t work. Let’s just say he wanted a servant who produced children, not a wife.”
A bold statement. Many would have disapproved.
I laughed,
“Sorry.” I gasped, “You have a way with words. Do you have time to join me, I'd love to catch up?”
She smiled, 'Absolutely,” she nodded, “I’d love that.”
THE END
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Dark Side of Arranged Marriage
Many may hear of the term ‘arranged marriage’ and merely imagine the consensual and commonly entered into marriages of convenience between two individuals. Undoubtedly such marriages, whilst arranged, are willingly entered into and account for some of the most successful demonstrations of all marriages in terms of the divorce statistics that they don’t produce and the tales of happiness that we can see all around within South Asian communities within westernized countries (where, notably, divorce rates outside of such communities averages at 42% and 41% within England and America respectively.1
However, whilst such marriages undoubtedly make up the largest proportion of arranged nuptials, the true, unadulterated picture outside of mutually agreed, and most importantly mutually beneficial, arranged marriages can often be a whole lot murkier.
“When I was 14 my mother showed me a photo of the man I'd been promised to since I was eight years old. I refused to marry him, and for that I was abused, physically and mentally - my sisters told me I would give my dad a heart attack, or my mum would get cancer if I kept fighting them”.
Jasvinder Sanghera2
The promise of a better life and the reality of mental and physical abuse
Arranged marriages around the world are commonplace within South Asian communities. However a subset of this, and although less popularized, serialized and discussed, is the issue of South Asian Western males returning to South Asia to seek a bride. This all too frequently sees the girl in question being promised a life of unimaginably improved living conditions and a secure future free from the trappings of her current, impoverished and often destitute situation. In return for her hand in marriage her family was provided with a dowry, which may be money, property or both.
However the reality for the bride’s future sometimes turns out to be drastically different from the one she imagined, with her suffering at the hands of her partner from physical and mental abuse, from isolation and from in-laws who are equally as repressing and abusive.
And it isn’t merely females being plucked from such South Asian countries either. There has been a decided shift in the numbers of males who enter under such circumstances, with most looking toward the 1997 scrapping of the Primary Purpose immigration approach as a direct cause of this boost. This scrapped act specifically removed the High Commission's ability to ask about personal questions at the immigration stage, such as favourite brands of foods or bad habits, as the then Labour Government mistakenly became concerned about offending South Asian communities.
The effect of this removal was evident within the figures of 1996 and 1997, where there were just 1,960 applicants in 1996, as compared to 1997 where there were a comparatively staggering 5,080 applications.3
Today this issue has been addressed through new toughened legalization, however the marriages that these previous figures may have produced are likely unfathomable.
"There is no doubt that a lot of the girls are being forced to bring husbands into Britain against their will but we are powerless to do anything about it”
An official at the British High Commission in Islamabad4
An arranged issue of an altogether different kind: Marrying for residency
An entirely different issue that surrounds some forms of arranged marriages is that of marrying for residency, for green cards or for visas. And whilst western countries from around the world each suffer from their own issues with residents effectively selling themselves as a ticket to the country, once more there is a whole subset within this realm that goes beyond the mutually happy or aware to enter into such an agreement.
Specifically this involves the westernized party having no knowledge that the marriage is one of convenience, and they may only become aware of their new spouse’s true intentions postnuptial: when they leave, become abusive or similarly disinterested. This issue is one that is universally faced by westernised nations where higher standards of living and futures that offer security, healthcare and the promise of well-paid employment can be contrasted to third world countries.
What’s more the challenges in overcoming this particular subject of immigration fraud is made all the more difficult by there being only one party aware of the true intentions of the marriage.
"We know that in many cultures and religions it's conventional to have an arranged marriage, and our officers approve bona fide arranged marriages all the time. But if it looks like the marriage was not arranged for family, for the purpose of living together, then we will reject the application. So the test is whether the marriage is legitimate or whether it is just done for immigration purposes."
- Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney
Canada: A country attempting to tackle immigration fraud
In Canada fraudulent marriages have reached endemic levels and although the true figures remain decidedly cloudy (as is the nature of the issue) there has been many an organised crime ring charging as much as $60,000 for the marital hand of a fully-fledged Canadian.5
Measures introduced by the ruling governance include a need to live together for two years prior to being eligible for residency, this is then in addition to the usual document checks, home visits and extensive interviews.
"Sorting the genuine couples from the fraudulent becomes extremely difficult, especially when one of the partners is unaware that they are being scammed".
- Jason Kenney, Immigration Minister of Canada
Notably however these Canadian regulations, and the country's newly toughened approach, are seemingly honing in on arranged marriages where both parties are fully aware of the hollow reason behind their nuptials. And to this end the Canadian state may well join the remainder of the westernized countries, and the innocent men and women within them, who are all respectively targeted by those who seek only a better life, regardless of who they may have to marry.
References
1. UK Office of National Statistics, 2013, “Divorces in England and Whales”, UK Government
2. Seal, Rebecca and Wiseman, Eva, 2009, “Abducted. Abused. Raped. Survived, ” The Guardian
3. Lloyd-Roberts, Sue , 1999, “UK Fighting Arranged Marriage Abuse,” BBC News
4. ibid
5. Canadian Visa Bureau, 2012, “Minister Takes Aim at Canada Visa Sham Marriage Scam,” Canadian Visa Bureau News
A NOTE FROM KAI
Hey,
I'm Kai. I want to thank you for reading Knights and Dragons of Avondale. I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed crafting this story. I wanted to share with you that I am just beginning my journey as a storyteller, in fact when this book was first published in 2019, I was not a professional writer but in fact a young clueless bachelor working as an IT Analyst in my hometown Ottawa, Canada; however my passion for storytelling led me to work on the Alien Cult trilogy purely as a hobby during my spare time as I absolutely love storytelling and nothing brings me more joy than to come up with wild stories to share with the world. Since I am just beginning my writing journey I have much to learn; the best way for me to learn and grow would be to receive honest feedback from readers. This would really help me improve my craft, grow as a storyteller and also connect with fellow book lovers, so if you can spare some of your precious time to leave an honest feedback for this book on Amazon or Goodreads or Kobo, it would really help me out.
Thanks again for taking the time to read this book, your
time and support is much appreciated!
Take good care until next time,
Kai
A BIT ABOUT KAI
***
Kai Kazi
Absolutely Awkward.
Adorkable Geek.
Self-proclaimed best shawarma eater.
Especially gifted napper.
Currently working on his Masters specializing in fantasy basketball.
In his spare time, Kai stunt doubles for Batman.
Okay that was a lie...he actually stunt doubles for Robin.
Kai is a kid with a dream - a very simple dream, mostly involving binging on shawarma and books, but a dream nonetheless.
Simply put Kai is a pile of delight.
***
I won’t get into a lengthy bio here but I will tell you briefly how I got started; it was 2012, a crazy year since many people were worried that the world was about to end as the Mayans predicted. At the time, I was a recent university grad working in my hometown in the heart of Canada. Being young and naïve, I got spooked by all the Armageddon talk so right before the impending Armageddon I ventured on a wild Euro-trip, during which I realized life is way too short to not pursue your passion. So upon my return, I geared my life towards my true passion; storytelling.
When it comes to stories, I have always loved stories that explore DARK themes, worlds and characters however I felt that most books I read were too light. This led me to start drafting stories that explores the darkest corridors of the human mind and soul, with the overarching goal to disturb, terrify but also entertain adult readers. I worked on several books with my good friends; whom happen to be incredibly gifted writers. Together we came up with some incredibly dark stories; so dark your mind may never forgive you for taking it to such dark corridors. Regardless, I encourage you to dare yourself to discover some of my incredible dark stories that is bound to disturb your peaceful mind.
I have books within several genres including; literary/historical fiction, mystery, epic fantasy, and young adult; regardless of genre each story has a very dark touch. Dark does not mean paranormal; so don’t expect vampires/werewolves/ghosts in my books but don’t no worry I still find other ways terrify and disturb your peaceful mind. Here are some of my works;
OTHER WORKS BY KAI KAZI
BOOKS
MYSTERY
ALIEN MESSIAH TRILOGY
ALIEN Messiah
SECRET SOCIETIES OF AMARUCA
ALIEN CULTS OF CANADA
EPIC FANTASY
AVONDALE TRILOGY
SWORD AND SORCERY OF AVONDALE
KNIGHTS AND DRAGONS OF AVONDALE
LOST LEGEND OF AVONDALE
LITERARY/HISTORICAL FICTION
SAD SHORT STORIES ANTHOLOGY
VOLUME ONE
VOLUME TWO
VOLUME THREE
PUBLICATION: DARK STORIES PRESS
COPYRIGHT: KAI KAZI STUDIO
KNIGHTS AND DRAGONS OF AVONDALE
Story by: Kai Kazi
Written/Edited by: Kai Kazi, Sheree Crawford
Free Novella: Tears of a Bride
Story by Kai Kazi
Written/Edited by Kai Kazi, Sheree Crawford
Book Cover Design: Warren Design
All rights solely owned by Kai Kazi Studio
Dark Stories Press is a subsidiary of Kai Kazi Studio, which is solely owned and operated by
Quazi Investment.
Ottawa, Canada
2019
