One of the top trending topics on Twitter India over the weekend had people ROFL.

Dowrycalculator.com, an ingenuous application designed by one Tanul Thakur, has got tweeple in splits.

Based on a guy’s caste, salary, alma mater and skin colour, among other things, the application comes up with his going rate in the marriage market. Dedicated to “all the match-making aunties of India”, the app has become a talking point this wedding season.

IT professional Ashish Biyani exclaims, “This calculator is hilarious. It comes up with Rs 15 lakh dowry for a guy earning less than Rs 20,000 a month! I don’t believe in taking dowry anyway, but I guess it’s designed to boost a guy’s sense of self-worth.”

That sure seems to be the case, as many are already bragging about their ‘market value’ on the microblogging site.

Software engineer Mohit Nawani is rather pleased with his result — Rs 65 lakh, thanks to his height (six feet) and colour (fairy white). “My parents would kill me if I even mentioned dowry. But, this app is good time-pass,” he says, adding, “However, if any of the match-making aunties do find it, I’m afraid they’d take it quite seriously.”

Even those who have already tied the knot are having their share of fun with the calculator. As techie Tinu Cherian puts it, “Although, I’m against dowry, and I’m already married, I couldn’t resist checking it out. It gave me a value of about Rs 50 lakh so I showed it to my wife and said, see how much I’m worth.”

All agree that the creator has got the criteria spot on. Apart from the groom’s age, caste, profession and salary, his alma mater seems to be a deciding factor, with choices ranging from IIT, IIM, IIT+IIM, to MIT, Stanford, Harvard and none of the above.

Just as discriminating is the groom’s working place — India, USA, any European country or country more developed than India and any country less developed than India.

As for our obsession with skin colour, the options provided are: white, fairy white, wheatish (described as almost white, but would need some Fair & Lovely), brown, black and pitch black. The remaining factors are height, father’s profession and number of times the groom has been married!

While the boys are having a ball, it seems even the girls are taking it in the right spirit. Content consultant Kirthana Karumbaiah points out, “Obviously, it’s a joke mocking at the dowry system. I think even girls should have a dowry calculator to see how much we are worth!”

The only danger is, people who still practise dowry could misconstrue the motive behind this calculator.

So just to be 100 per cent clear, people, if you’re using this for a pre-nuptial negotiation, just do us all a favour and turn yourself in!