Matchmakers write the ads, keep the identities of would-be brides and grooms secret and arrange counseling for couples facing the rest of their lives together with a killer disease, says H. Raj, who runs a wedding bureau in the commercial capital of Gujarat state, Ahmedabad.

 

"It was tough taking care of my young daughter after I lost my husband from AIDS," says a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher."Because of my financial and emotional needs, I wanted to find a partner ... who was HIV positive like me. For us, marriage is about accepting the truth and living well, even with a killer disease."

 

She married a man she found through the matrimonial columns, in a simple ceremony at her parents’ home. Most marriages in India are still arranged, though generally with the consent of the bride and groom, and newspapers are full of such ads.

 

But India’s five million HIV/AIDS sufferers face vicious prejudice. They are sacked from their jobs, shunned by their families, friends and neighbors, thrown out of hospital beds and sometimes denied treatment.

 

And HIV/AIDS widows face a double stigma in a country where some women withdraw from daily life when their husbands die.