How to write a Matrimonial Biodata

In the South Asian community (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), a biodata is essentially a resumé used for matrimonial purposes. It allows the reader to get to know a prospective suitor before meeting them in person or helps to decide whether they want to meet at all.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Word Processor
• Honesty
• Picture
• Basic Information about yourself and family

1. Personal Details:
   1. Full Name (First name, Middle Name, Last Name) No Nicknames (Bunty, Pappu, Chintu), Your name as it appears in your passport or Driver's License would be good.
   2. Marital Status: Single - Never Married, Separated, Divorced (with or without children). I would leave this out if you are Single Never Married.
   3. Date/Time of birth (I put it in the same line because it saves space, you can choose to omit Time of Birth if you don't believe in Horoscope matching.)
   4. Place of Birth
   5. Height (In Feet/Inches)
   6. Weight in Kilograms or Pounds and list out the units you are referring to. If intended audience is in the U.S. then pounds would be better, if in India/Europe then Kilograms. If weight is a bit of issue, I've seen people put "Body Type: Slim, Athletic, Average, or Heavy", completely omitting this is a bit odd, it just shows you aren't comfortable with your weight or hiding something.
   7. Complexion: Very Fair, Fair, Wheatish, or Dark [This can be left out, if you have a self-evident picture.]
   8. Habits (drinking/smoking/vegetarian, non-vegetarian, eggetarian)
   9. Educational Qualification. List all of your degrees (Bachelors, Masters, etc) and where you got them. Don't list all of the colleges you went to, just the one where you received your degree from. Please don't include your grades here. I personally don't like to see awards received.
   10. Where you work currently? Place (organization, position)
   11. Annual Income (if you wish to reveal)
   12. Caste: Full Caste, Sub-caste and Religion (which usually is left out, unless your potential suitors might fall outside of your religion i.e. Hindu, Jain, Sikh)
   13. Disabilities: If you don't have any don't include this line in your biodata at all.
   14. Hobbies: I'd only put this line if there is something significant you do like volunteer somewhere on a regular basis, play in a band, play an instrument, theater, etc. I laugh at the conjecture that something like surfing the internet, hanging out with friends and going out to restaurants is a real hobby. So please omit the Hobby section if that is the type of hobby you are adding.

2. Family Details

   Family Details:
   1. Father's name, educational qualification, where he works/worked. Where does he live currently?
   2. Mother's name, working/housewife? Educational qualifications. (I'd leave out information about your parent's marital history/divorce, etc.)
   3. List names of sisters/brothers. Married or single? Where do they work and/pr reside? What does your brother-in-law or sister-in-law do? If they are studying, then where etc? The very last educational qualifications for all (i.e. if they have a Masters, don't list Bachelors - this is your Biodata not theirs, so be brief).
   4. Joint/Nuclear Family: Only if you are a guy, and even if you are a guy it's optional.
   5. Origin: Where your family comes from and where they reside can be two different things. Example you reside in Bombay, but the family ancestry is originally from some remote village, it might be nice to list it.

3. Contact Details:
   Include your home phone number, cell phone number and email address
   Home phone number in case someone wants to speak with your parents
   Email address so you can be contacted.

4. birth chart

   Horoscope Details:
   This should be included if you believe in horoscope matching and/or majority of your suitors believe in it.
   If the horoscope is available then only these are needed for matching:
   1. Remaining dasa
   2. Gothram like Kousigam, Garga etc
   3. Star like Magam, Poosam etc
   4. Raasi and Navamsam squares

5. Photograph of Yourself:
   * A picture of the upper torso is good.
   * A picture of just you and ONLY you, that way there is no confusion involved.
   * A picture that honesty depicts what you look like.
   * If possible, it would be better to get a picture taken in a studio by a professional photographer rather than compromising with the one you already have.
   * Do not dress overly modern or overly conservative.
   * Do not take the picture in awkward poses.
   * For Guys: Picture of you dressed in a Suit/tie, Nice Shirt (no Hawaiian shirts) and pant (no sunglasses, you learn a lot about someone when you see their eyes and others would really like to see your's)
   * For Gals: Picture of you dressed in Salwaar-suit, regular sari (I wouldn't recommend this for full shots since sari's add a few pounds to your figure) or a Casual top and jeans. (Very light makeup and minimal jewellery) It goes without saying but please don't have a revealing top or sari.
   * No one will tell you this, but if the photograph looks 10 times better than you actually look in person, please don't attach it to your biodata. This is somewhat fraudulent and it will save you a lot of heartache, because these people will meet you in person someday.

6. Format of Biodata:
   It helps to have a soft copy format and hard copy (for distribution to family/friends). You got to get the word out that you are out and about/single and ready to mingle.

   For soft copy, you can either get a nice PDF done or Word document. Please don't send out unpopular formats like Word Perfect, newer version of Microsoft Word (.docx), etc.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep it minimum like a resume down to one page. The horoscope information can be included on the second page, if you are going to include your horoscope information.

• Remember having correct spelling and grammar is important. You want to make a good impression. Have a proofreader go through your biodata to make sure you haven't misspelled anything.

• Make the font legible. If it's hard to read, then it seems like you are hiding something.

• Add a title that says "BIODATA", it should be bold and in capital letters. (optional)

• It is a known fact that men tend to lie about height and women tend to about weight. Use your judgment, honesty is the best policy. Don't say you are much taller than you actually are. Don't say you weigh a lot less than you actually do.

• I've seen people put such things as Good Looking, Handsome, Great Personality. Sometimes things are better left unsaid and as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so let others behold your beauty from your photograph.

• Be sure not to have "bad" Facebook, Friendster, Orkut, etc. pictures out on the Internet that can be viewed by others. Remember you are trying to make a good impression and the potential suitor does look at this information. And by bad, I mean those in which you don't look good and one's that don't show you in a good light (i.e. You know the ones from that Bachlorette/Bachelor party.)