[deepak56]

To be fair, I don't think the author expected the rant to be critically analyzed at HN. He probably just wanted to vent, share some anecdotes and move on - won't be happening now.

Either way, what he said is not completely untrue. Obviously India has a very family oriented culture. A lot of educated young people are first generation educated, and thereby there are always expectations. Expectations, that are not just limited to settling down but that also lean towards making people risk averse. Times are changing, but the hangover of the days when people used to join one company right after college (preferably a government job) and retire after 40 years are still here.

Couple that with the fact that our higher education system is pretty much a mess, with very little directly applicable skills taught. And you can see why such questions are part & parcel of life if you have been out of college for 3-4 years.

Not all bad though, the big cities are seeing an enormous number of startup events. I cover startups and have seen very passionate student startups coming out of even Tier2/3 colleges and there are plenty of incubators/accelerators around.

If you are a young aspiring entrepreneur, you will have far more complex things to worry about than an occasional relative asking, "When are you getting married"