Dowry.......This Goes To All 'Educated' Men

This particular word "Dowry" sounds very sweet to Indian men, but it is oblivious in the western world. Dowry is something that a woman brings to her husband's house after marriage. This is a purely ceremonial thing and is just a way of supporting a new household. Any newly wed couple requires a lot of help, financial as well, from people on both sides and this in most cases, is a requisite and allowable.
But look around in our country, it has crossed all leaps and bounds, it has crossed all bounds of reason and surprisingly more so with "highly educated" youth. This subject has always irritated me, it irks me a lot because people are simply unable to see that they are cutting the branch that they are sitting on. It is a completely pathetic situation that is prevailing on our intellect. It is a fact that millions of girls have/are just vanished(ing) off the face of the earth, even before they were born, just because of "enlightened" youth we come across, and how could we trust youth like these to lead our nation?
I had discussed this topic with several people and often received disgusting remarks and suggestions from them, and all the people I've talked to are well educated. I am so surprised and dismayed that nobody just gets the point right!!
Here is a peek into what some of my 'enlightened brethren' had to say :
A software engineer said just after he got his first job - " I am thinking of getting a car and a house and may be a million rupees in cash. It's got to be at least that much for taking care of the girl for an entire life"
A chartered accountant said - " Whatever reason it is, women cannot do without men, and for this reason at least they got to pay before marriage(shows me some bungalows and says that something like that would be great !!)"
Another chartered accountant said after a discussion - " All this talk is unreasonable, I'm gonna see how you'll get married without dowry "
All religions hold this institution called marriage in high esteem and is in fact the best of all relationships in the world, more so because it keeps the world going !
We don't love people in the world, not even our own closest ones. Can't we unconditionally love the person we are going to stay with for the rest of our life?
Can't we be grateful to the woman who so painstakingly brings another being into the world? Can't we have respect for a woman just like our mother, without whom we are just bone-bags ?? Are we marrying people or money and wealth ?
And it is sometimes disheartening to see even women in thirst for dowry for their sons, just forgetting what their parents had to face to get them married.
Lastly, one very disheartening situation I've come across, an acquaintance of mine showed me nuns in a parish and said in a mocking tone " most of these people are not here with true devotion, they are here because their fathers cannot get them husbands "
Truly, I am not sure whether that is true, if it is true, what a shame have we brought upon ourselves and in which we take pride to dwell !!!
All religions talk about a time to come when all love from peoples' hearts evaporates into thin air, this is that time we are living in, shame on us, we cannot even love our closest companions !!