With apps like Tinder, OK Cupid and Badoo acting like job agencies, relationships are a 9 to 5 affair now. It’s a tricky game, but the Gen-Y Bengalureans are smarter. With the advent of speed-dating events and singles’ meet ups all over the city, namma ooru can now brag about the most logical way to fall in love. “Tinder is convenient, granted. It’s all a matter of swiping left or right, depending upon how interesting you find the person. But who guarantees the credibility and authenticity of these millions of matches that are apparently one’s soul mate?” says Vijay D, 34-year-old who runs Life Of Line aka LOL, a social club that connects all likeminded people throughout the city via a simple sign up procedure. LOL had recently organised a speed dating event in Bengaluru. “The turn out really speaks volumes about the city’s trust in mingling personally than over a digital portal.” gushes Vijay.
“Speed dating is a western concept and people still have their restrictions, but we go through extensive background checks to confirm the identity of the people we select. As per the rules of our event, each participant is assigned 15 other participants and they get to interact for eight minutes each. Both are given scorecards wherein they can score each other based on various categories. We then tally these scores post event and personally mail them so they can take things ahead,” explains Letitia Perez, explaining the most rational way to find the perfect match.
Similar to LOL’s concept, Sivanath Reddy from Meridian Escapades believes that speed dating meet and greets are a more trustworthy way to assess a person. The 32-year-old claims, “One can actually meet the person faceto-face without wasting time on someone who is two completely different person online and offline. Plus the options here are plenty! You can actually check if you vibe with the person before allowing them into your privacy.”
City-based product designer Tanveer Kaur is all praises for the concept. “I’m a veteran at dating apps,” admits the 26-year-old with no hesitation. “It’s an ‘on the go ordeal’, but so is my mother. She is hooked to matrimonial sites because she believes I’m incapable of finding myself a match,” she adds.
