There was a time when boys and girls met furtively and secretly. But times have changed, and our thoughts have expanded, so has the opportunity to interact with the members of opposite sex. Boys and girls meet openly and call each other a friend. They talk to them in restaurants, bus stops, in the college corridors, in temples and any place, which can accommodate two persons. One can meet her potential date partner or members of opposite sex anywhere. In fact dating has become as common as anytime, anywhere banking.
Few of the many ways to interact with members of opposite sex have been enlisted by city youngsters.
Newspaper Columns and the Television programmes
Mass media has entered every aspect of our life. There are periodical dating columns in various publications in the city, where men and women leave their brief description along with an email id, in search of a dating partner. New developments are keeping in pace with the choices of youngsters. Television channel such as Play TV has pioneered dating through the medium of television in India. It is very similar to newspaper dating column. On television the information about a boy or a girl, searching for a date, appears as an electronic text with a VJ reading out the text and asking potential date partners to contact the girl or the boy through the channel.
Blue tooth
Technology has been a boon to many. Dating is turning “techno” day by day. Through the activation of blue tooth on mobile phones, one can get a list of telephone numbers, using blue tooth, in its vicinity. Since blue tooth ensures free messaging. A chat session normally flows between members of opposite sex using blue tooth, easily. It is just the advanced form of Internet chatting. “I was in a pub and I turned on my blue tooth, I then messaged and started friendship with my boy friend, Amit,’ says Twinkle, an engineering student.
Internet dating
“ASL” (Age, sex, location) is normally the first question asked by anyone, chatting on the net. It is after the prior queries that the conversation begins. For long, Internet has become a meeting spot for young boys and girls or even older men and women. The anonymity factor plays an important role. Since there is an assurance that the person chatting with you is not familiar you are more prone to baring your heart in front of her. Internet friendship has no judgement or commitment. Though the risk behind revealing certain personal details during a chat session is always questionable still Internet can be said to be the most popular method of developing a relationship with a member of opposite sex.
Colleges
It’s almost the Riverdale story in colleges. Archie, Betty and Veronica are present in some form or other in city colleges. Interaction with classmates or seniors is the most common way of meeting potential date partners. ‘I still remember, I met Neha, when she was performing an experiment in the lab. We used to exchange a few words until I asked her out and she agreed. That was my first date in college!’ happily narrates, Shubham, a student of third year Psychology in a city college. College corridors, basketball courts, chemistry labs, and the list goes on. Colleges have been the oldest place, where a “girl meets a boy”.
Hobby classes or coaching classes
May be to an extent, boy meets the girl in the college has become very clichéd. Or where do girls in an all girls college meet members of opposite sex????? Youngsters have found a new way to meet members of opposite sex. Just as the youngsters venture out, for management or engineering entrance examinations coaching classes, their eyes too, join them searching for potential date partners. Even the rise of hobby classes, like singing, dancing or painting classes has made it possible for members of opposite sex to interact. ‘Our dancing class requires a lot of interactivity with boys so that is how I made some great friends in the dancing class,’ quips Nisha, a student at a leading dance class in Mumbai.
Parties
Mazza, masti, mazzak and amidst all one can still spot that face that attracts attention to the extent that it makes us go for a dinner, stroll and we successfully date! Page 3 culture has brought up the new phenomenon “parties” and publicized it to be a great platform of meeting potential date partners. Parties have been regarded as the oldest place of meeting members of opposite sex. Marriage functions or parties have been the oldest platforms for young Indian boys and girls to interact with each other.
Neighbourhood
It is all about the pretty lass next door! Or the handsome dude in the next apartment! Since most of the youngsters in Mumbai stay in apartments or flats it is very likely that they interact with members of opposite sex staying on just the upper floor or next door. Society function or even a stroll at the same time ensures that youngsters interact with each other. And after interaction daily meetings follow in balconies or colony parks.
Trains and buses
While train takes you on a journey, the journey takes you into another route, of meeting a friend, unknown, yet so familiar. Sounds Bollywood? Well, not exactly, because most of city youngsters interact with members of opposite sex on a train or a bus journey. Actually the sheer boredom in a train leads to a conversation between a girl and a boy in opposite berths. ‘I was on my way from Delhi to Mumbai. I was getting bored and so was Adarsh so we just started speaking about boredom and soon became friends. We exchanged our contact numbers and now we are dating each other,’ excitedly reveals Jaya, a student of fashion designing.
Gone are the days when girls and boys could meet only once in a social function. In today’s era, boys and girls interact with each other through a mobile phone or even television. Dating has changed and so has the way to meet your date partner.
*Specific details of interviewees have been withdrawn on personal request
