That glorious figure, spot less face, centre spread picture and promises of eternal happiness. Russian beauties are ruling the virtual dreams market today. There is a beeline to date, meet and marry them. By a conservative estimate, there are approximately seven hundred sites on the internet hosting offers, characteristics and vital statistics of Russian ladies, quoted to become the ideal partner of every willing husband. Google threw up a figure of 1112367 links figuring the term "Russian Brides". That figure is increasing by the hour. So what is the real picture? Is it just another scam or a pipe dream? Is there any authenticity in the claims made by these sites and published in the print medium? Does the ideal Russian partner exist? It's a difficult question to get a straight answer for.

The internet is an ideal medium to get to know people living in a remote world. It a medium which has brought the human race closer and has also exposed a number of facets in human relationship which were unexposed. People meet in a virtual world, a virtual environment where they are alone and hopefully no one is prying upon them. They set their identities as per the whims and fancies, live with an imaginary alias and try and attain the perfection which is not available in real life. Out of this behavior of the cyber world, a phenomenon has emerged which has created vibes the world over, especially in the male population exposed to the internet and dating sites. The promise of a beautiful, suave and friendly lady, living in the eastern block of the world, who could be a dutiful housewife, a raunchy partner in bed, a friendly assistant in times of your need; an ideal soul mate. Males approach them via the net. They write lovely letters to each other, increase the frequency of their net meetings, graduate to a physical meeting if they are lucky (which more often they are not), and if all goes well marry and live happily ever after. The ultimate dream of every eligible, or not so eligible bachelor.

Statistics show otherwise. More often the males approach the lady in question after seeing a nice picture on the net, send a few mails to her or maybe her agent (if she exists), open her heart out to her and then express his heartfelt desires. The lady next, requests for some money to travel to the male in question as she is very destitute and from a very poor family (the make up does not suggest that in the centre spread!). The male obliges and loses the money. This then takes the shape of a scam. A scam which is happening as I write this article, as you read it and as people get attracted to such sites.

I must add though that there are a few sites which claim even ISO 9001 certification! I don't know for what, or from where have they received this certification, but they have it and are thriving in this business. Thus the dream of a Russian bride is as much mired in controversy as the reason behind their success. There must be genuine site on the internet which actually try and help people to come together, make the interaction possible, but they are far outnumbered by the number of scrupulous agents just trying to make a quick buck. This dream might be just a dream