To date is human…but to pretend otherwise is purely Indian! When it comes to online dating (actually dating of any kind), Indians (especially the great big Indian family) start resembling the famed ostriches, who have their heads perpetually stuck under the sand. In fact, many choose to believe that their sons/daughters/grandsons/grand-daughters, etc. have somehow managed to escape the winged Cupid’s great archery skills.
Now, isn’t that an absolute load of codswallop?!? After all, we all know, it ain’t true…for Cupid now has an accomplished accomplice – a clever spider that weaves a powerful net called the “INTERNET”…and no lad or lass will ever go without a mad rush of love again, much to the chagrin of the orthodox Indians. Then again, when did “amor & eros” ever have it easy?!? Even today, as it battles the rigid traditions, it lays bare open their medieval mindsets. But these machine-made love-stories are here to stay and forever change the rules of the game. You ask me, how? Here’s how:
- A Vast Virtual Playing Field: There was a time when the “Perfect-Mate Universe” (if dating equaled a Venn diagram) was limited to the few people you met locally (at a marriage function, for example or at a party…albeit that too had its geographic location). Not to mention, since most young people were still chaperoned by their glaring glowering relatives, love seldom had an opportunity to bloom. That equation of course, stands changed as you can meet the love of your life in the very comforts of your cosy blanket.
- You Can’t Lock Love : While Paris ended its long-lasting relationship with the ever-popular “Love Locks”, the orthodox Indians have forever been in love with the idea of “locking” love, i.e. holding love and lovers captive. There was a time when lovers were promptly put behind closed doors in the vain hope that a simple wooden door ought to be enough to break love’s spell. Alas, with the advent of computers, internet and online dating, love has finally sprouted wings!!!
- A Melange of Mixed-Mates: They say “variety is the spice of life”. Now, ain’t that true, indeed! And finally we have a tool at our disposal – a machine that destroys the walls of race and allows an Indian to fall in love with a non-Indian without spending dollars on travel. Hence, now you can fall in love with someone (from another caste and creed) who is literally located in a land far far away!
- Pleasure Hunt : There are those who believe that the internet is used for checking e-mails or to post a photo on Facebook. What these uninitiated souls fair to realise is that internet has forever altered the rules and routes of your pleasure trip. Whether you leave a little voice note for your paramour or indulge in a night of cyber debauchery, online dating has added a yet other dimension to cyber-mating.
- Marriage Made in Media: Once upon a time, there was a time when young men/women literally had to leave hints (for their families to decode) that they were physically ready to take a spouse. Thanks to the internet, you can now find your perfect mate with a simple click of your mouse. Now that’s what they call: ‘Finding a spouse with a mouse.’!
Of course, as with everything radical, the conservative orthodoxy find the reality hard to bear but the new rules of the game is not only here to stay, it will challenge and uproot the most conventional conventions. Or as they say in Latin – ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ – “LOVE CONQUERS ALL”!
