Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, this article focuses on cross-regional marriage (those that cross caste and linguistic boundaries and entail long-distance migration) as mixed marriage. It queries the 'acceptance' of women sought beyond traditional boundaries of caste in a context where caste endogamy is the norm and breaches are otherwise not tolerated. It argues that while the caste of the women is overlooked when the alliance is made, their caste does not cease to be a concern in the caste-bound rural communities into which they marry. A discourse of caste, centred on food transactions, derogatory remarks about skin colour and in the refusal to marry the children of cross-regional couples, serves to mark difference and make claims to status. While there has been a decline in certain exclusionary caste practices in the village, a sense of hierarchy is retained.

This article focuses on long-distance or cross-regional marriages in a village in Badaun District of Uttar Pradesh where brides have migrated from the states of West Bengal and Bihar. These marriages cross caste, linguistic and state boundaries and the marriage distance exceeds 1,000 kilometres. At destination, it is a combination of factors such as landlessness or marginal landownership, higher age or prior marital status and ‘flawed’ reputation that makes it difficult for men to find local wives. These factors have to be seen in the context of the low sex ratio (causing a shortage of brides) of the district and the state. At source, the compulsions include poverty and the inability of parents to meet the dowry demands of local men. The article argues that the long-distance/cross-regional marriages are not dowry marriages. Nor are the brides bought, given in exchange for a bride-price or trafficked. They are a new kind of commercially mediated marriage involving payment to a go-between.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Uttar Pradesh, this article contributes to debates on married women's relations with their natal kin. It compares women in ‘regional’ marriages (which conform to caste and community norms with a relatively small marriage distance) with women in ‘cross-regional’ marriages (those that cross caste, linguistic, and state boundaries, and entail long-distance migration). A focus on cross-regional marriage demonstrates how geographic distance cuts women off from vital structures of support. At the same time, even for regional brides, natal kin support is complicated and relative proximity does not guarantee support. Factors such as caste, class, poverty, the gender of children, notions of honour and shame, and stage in the life-course work together in complex ways to determine the duration and kind of support available. By focusing on marital violence, marital breakdown, and widowhood, the article demonstrates both the presence and the limits of natal kin support. The opportunities to draw on natal kin support vary for women, but its significance must not be understated as it alone provides women with the possibility of leaving their marriages, even if only temporarily. The article focuses on one form of women's agency, one that is constrained and highly dependent on relationships with others (mainly male kin). In such a context of economic and social dependency, natal kin support is an important—and perhaps the only—resource available in situations of marital crisis, and its absence leaves women in a particularly vulnerable position.

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Social media poses new dangers for many young aged dental patients having concern about their aesthetics. Growing up in a digital era where social media is part of our daily routine, everyone is just a click away from all the information be it a fact or myth in almost every domain. Persistently being exposed to highly idealized images, many adolescents try to achieve such standards by trying all sorts of treatments at home, including dental treatment. Dentists need to be aware of these important issues in order to help younger generation to avoid various dangers and to help safeguard their longer term dental health. This article aims to provide orthodontist about the dangers of spurious claims about 'do-it-yourself' dentistry, helping them avoid destructive or unstable treatments, especially those of the 'quick fix' variety during times of COVID-19.