Dating in Delhi

So you think it’s easy to find a date in New Delhi as a newcomer to town?  If you don’t have many connections, the odds are not in your favor.

Delhi has a culture where it’s tough to break into a circle.  It’s more so than other cities I have lived in with the exception of Los Angeles.  It’s very similar to LA actually (in yet another way, if you’re read my previous post on Delhi vs Bombay).  If you went to a bar or a lounge with a friend or two, you cannot walk up to a girl and introduce yourself.  She will most certainly not be open to the introduction.  If she’s with guys, whether they are friends, a romantically involved partner, or co-workers, they will come to her defense assuming your intentions are not sincere.

If you are not with other friends, especially girl friends, you shouldn’t even take the risk.  If a guy from her group doesn’t stop you, there is a good possibility a stranger watching you talk to her will.  He’ll walk up to you and say something like “she’s with me”, even though you clearly know she’s not.  The two of them haven’t talked the whole night.  You know because you were paying attention.  You know because it happened to you.

So how are you to meet someone?  Family introductions?  Friends of friends?  What if you don’t have family in town?  What if they have a social circle very different than what you’re looking for?  What if you don’t have many friends?  Well, you’re basically SOL.

Or, if you’re like me, you start up a meetup group.  If a way to meet people doesn’t exist, you create a way.  There has to be other people in the same position as you.  Even if your fellow Delhites have lived here since birth and know half the city, they may still be single and looking.  So how do you go about creating a way?  See my next post….