If my parent spent on me, of if I spent on my children so that they are educated and not left to fend for themselves on the street, it is because I would not want our family prestige to be demeaned that we failed.
Or why else parents so micro manage their children in every aspect of their lives as they grow up? Do they take it to be an investment or a part of parental love and even duty?
I keep reading in the newspapers of cases where girls refuse to marry and instead want to carry on studying.
Here is a case
So, you see even Muslim girls who are more subservient have aspirations to be someone themselves while parents wanted to get her off their hands.
India is changing.
The rationale for dowry does not exist any more because of the amended Act, where ancestral property is to be distributed equally, irrespective of gender.
In so far as your car is concerned, now that you have cohabited with your wife, hopefully without violence, I think you father in law will give you a car without your even having to nudge and wink if he really feels that you are requiring a car but you somehow cannot organise your finances for the same.