AAfter going through the emotional kabaddi of the conversation phase, situational relationships, intense bonding, sex and DhokaGeneration Z is giving up on dating apps. Surprise, surprise. They’re now finding peace in abstinence and love on matchmaking sites. All of our mothers are practically doing a victory dance – it looks like we’re settling into the vintage vibe of arranged dating, if not marriage. Of course, Cupid is crying in the corner.
Now before you get upset and start shaking your head at my generation, hear me out. Our love lives are as boring as Bumble’s interface. God forbid two people actually hit it off on a dating app. That exciting exchange of messages usually fizzles out as soon as it’s moved to Instagram or WhatsApp. There’s something very uncool behind hookup culture – loneliness. The club is not the preferably Place to find a lover, and the bar is full of even more drunken creeps.
Apparently, 20-year-olds are running out of time to find true love, and rosemary oil hardly helps anyone with hair loss. Providers like Shaadi.com, BharatMatrimony and LinkedIn are the last hope. At least nobody is afraid to talk about CTCs.
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Dating abroad, marriage in
A 30-year Hinge veteran has retired from the dating game for good after her last match ignored her. The aspiring actor simply stopped responding after two months of tech-fueled nights at Summer House and brunch dates at Blue Tokai with her. She even had to chase him to delete her pictures from his phone. In the end, the cost of therapy wasn’t worth the free swipe.
Then she sat down to read her resume and a “crazy” (as her father described it) list of requirements for the marriageable guys—Don’t be a mama’s boy, don’t quote Wong Kar-Wai at dinner, don’t be so addicted to your ex, don’t expect me to worship your parents, and more. She’s not waiting anxiously for a match; it’s mostly a way to keep her parents off her back. And to announce to the world, “Look, I’m trying!”
A journalist follows the same path. She had heard too many horror stories about disastrous dates and never felt compelled to create a profile on dating apps. At the ripe old age of 25, her mother finally asked her about her love life. Her answer? “Well, Iit is your job to find one for me.”
It is now the women giving birth‘ Time to deal with catfishing, ghosting and North Korean red flags. They have to prove whether they’ve learned anything from their own marriages or are just adding more gray hairs to the family tree.
But hey, not everyone is ready to gamble with their mental health. One now-married couple from Gurugram did not. Despite meeting on a matchmaking site, they kept their parents updated for a year. Their conversation phase began with a three-hour phone call and smoothly transitioned into a relationship after their first date at Costa Coffee. In DLF CyberHub. After all, nothing shows serious commitment more than caffeinated banter.
As anti-marriage, As a fun-lover, I try not to be impressed by such success stories. While I can consider deleting dating apps – as I have a limited tolerance for liars, scammers and wannabe influencers – matchmaking sites could be my death sentence. Let’s see if the circus of modern dating can break me.
Ratan Priya is an editor at ThePrint’s Opinion & Reports section. Views are personal.
Note: This article is part of a series of columns on modern dating in India – the good, the bad and the cuddly sides.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
