It is time to think about settling down and getting married and you want to keep everyone happy, not least your parents.
For many Indians, this means an arranged marriage, because a partner has to be from the same religion, caste and background. But increasingly, young Indians want to have some say in the selection process.
In the process, they are forgoing the old-fashioned idea of a marriage broker, who some deem are totally out of touch. They have also shunned matrimonial websites on the grounds that they focus too rigidly on the conventional criteria of caste, religion and educational qualifications.
Twenty-six-year old medical intern Neelam Bhatia, who wants a romantic relationship that could lead to marriage, was “looking for someone with the same outlook on life, the same priorities, the same humour”. But given that her job at a Bangalore hospital leaves little time to socialise, she turned to TrulyMadly.
The dating app that launched on Valentine’s Day in 2014 is geared towards young millennials. TrulyMadly also verifies personal details of those who register because much like international markets, fake profiles are a big problem for matchmaking and dating portals in India.
“For women particularly, verification is important,” says Hitesh Dhingra, 36, the Delhi-based co-founder of the website, which he started with Sachin Bhatia and Rahul Kumar.
“Thirty per cent of the men registered on matrimonial sites are married. These websites don’t do any verification. We check their identity, their numbers, employment details and crosscheck their Facebook and Linked-in accounts.”
In India arranged marriages continue to be the norm. A 2013 survey conducted by the Taj Group of Hotels revealed that 75 per cent of young Indians prefer arranged marriages.
What is in flux is the mode of finding the right match. It has gone from relatives fixing marriages to agents and brokers, to classified ads in the newspapers and then, about 15 years ago, to matrimonial websites such as BharatMatrimony, Shaadi.com and Jeevansaathi.
These websites marked an important shift in how marriages were arranged: they allowed prospective grooms and brides to meet multiple people before settling on a match approved by both sets of parents.
More than 22 million Indians use matrimonial sites, according to a 2013 survey by India’s Internet Economy Watch Report. But many of these websites are used by parents to find a spouse for their sons and daughters.
That’s where dating apps have stepped in. They allow a young person more direct contact, without involving the family, and enable them to reject people without parental involvement or other complications. They can emphasise compatibility and common interests rather than the dry, utilitarian matching of qualifications, income, height and skin complexion.
This explains one of TrulyMadly’s distinctive features: psychometric testing to ensure compatibility.
There are also questionnaires and quizzes devised by psychologists and relationship counsellors. Once the data is uploaded, the website algorithm kicks in to match users.
“India has 100 million people over the age of 21 who are looking for partners. For them, matrimonial websites, with parents interfering and participating, are not cool,” says Dhingra.
However, many of these dating apps differ from those in the West, because the emphasis is on stable, long-term relationships and marriage, rather than casual flings.
But why can’t young Indians find their own partner? Well, Indian society is in flux. Single men and women mingle much more than ever before. Many of them have left home to work in a new city, where they usually work long hours. If they fail to meet someone at work, the chances of meeting someone elsewhere are remote.
For Bhatia, that was the appeal of TrulyMadly. She concedes her crazy hours would make it hard to meet Mr Right. In her case, her TrulyMadly profile was sent to a chartered accountant and the two began dating.
Outsiders might think there is a clear dichotomy between dating and matrimony, but that is not the case in India. Rather, it is a continuum, with varying degrees of arrangement and free choice and a tremendous amount of overlap between the two.
So, while earlier – before dating apps were available – people used matrimonial sites to find dates, now, people use dating apps to find a spouse.
More than three million Indians have downloaded the popular dating app Woo.
“Most people are looking at a process of courtship that ends in marriage. They want to get to know the person and find the best fit,” says co-founder Sumesh Menon.
“So a dating app allows them to meet online, when they feel comfortable, they meet offline, then meet the parents. This process also means they feel more certain about their choice – there won’t be any nasty surprises in store after marriage.”
Before meeting through Woo in November 2014, 30-year-olds Kartik and Shruti Arora had half-heartedly been letting their parents find a partner for them.
A few chat sessions followed, then some face-to-face meetings during which everything, as Shruti tells it, “clicked into place”.
The final seal of approval came when the parents met. The pair married four months later.
“I didn’t want to upset my parents, but I wanted to be in charge of my life,” says Shruti. “The important thing about these apps is their social acceptance. Because no one is embarrassed about using them, they are changing the face of marriage here, and everyone, including the parents, is happy.”
Woo demonstrates the rise of home-grown dating apps in India. While Tinder is well known, the indigenous online offerings are tailored to Indian cultural needs.
For example, Woo, which largely works on matching people based on their interests, withholds the names of women and makes users answer a set of questions before allowing them to chat. This helps women feel safer.
Other apps that have cropped up in India include Aisle, which describes itself as a cross between a dating and a matrimonial app. It asks for detailed information about your appearance and background.
Another offering is Floh (Find Life Over Here), which operates in 15 cities and five countries. It was started to help people who connect online meet offline, and it hosts matchmaking events throughout the year.
Floh believes you don’t meet someone through an algorithm but through real life interaction. The events it organises – themed around music, food or a sport – are usually limited to about 30 people.
Woo’s Menon says it is too soon to write off the matrimonial websites, though. Dating apps and matrimonial sites currently coexist because they cater to different audiences.
“But five years down the line, more young Indians will connect via products like ours because they will want to take the decision of a life partner into their own hands, and dating apps will be their first port of call,” he says.
“Yes, parents are important. But at the end of the process – to approve a choice – rather than leading it.”
Perhaps even more important than finding the right partner, what online marriage apps offer is some sense of control.
For Nitin Agarwal, a 28-year-old software engineer in New Delhi, the parental pressure to get married began a year ago. His repeated attempts to find the “right girl” in his social circles were not working out. But thanks to the online options, Agarwal feels all is not lost.
“I knew either I had to keep waiting for her to turn up – and my parents would have fretted about how long it was taking. Or I had to resign myself to my parents choosing my marriage partner,” he says.
“That’s when I decided [to] get onto a dating app.”
artslife@thenational.ae
Representing%20UAE%20overseas
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RACECARD
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The%20specs
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Everything Now
Arcade Fire
(Columbia Records)
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The%20Last%20White%20Man
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Mohsin%20Hamid%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E192%20pages%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublished%20by%3A%20Hamish%20Hamilton%20(UK)%2C%20Riverhead%20Books%20(US)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERelease%20date%3A%20out%20now%20in%20the%20US%2C%20August%2011%20(UK)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
More on Quran memorisation:
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
Results
Men's finals
45kg:Duc Le Hoang (VIE) beat Zolfi Amirhossein (IRI) points 29-28. 48kg: Naruephon Chittra (THA) beat Joseph Vanlalhruaia (IND) TKO round 2.
51kg: Sakchai Chamchit (THA) beat Salam Al Suwaid (IRQ) TKO round 1. 54kg: Veerasak Senanue (THA) beat Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) 30-25.
57kg: Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) RSC round 3. 60kg: Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 30-27.
63.5kg: Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE) 29-28. 67kg: Narin Wonglakhon (THA) beat Mohammed Mardi (UAE) 29-28.
71kg: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) w/o Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ). 75kg: Youssef Abboud (LBN) w/o Ayoob Saki (IRI).
81kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Khaled Tarraf (LBN) 29-28. 86kg: Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Emil Umayev (KAZ) 30-27.
91kg: Hamid Reza Kordabadi (IRI) beat Mohamad Osaily (LBN) RSC round 1. 91-plus kg: Mohammadrezapoor Shirmohammad (IRI) beat Abdulla Hasan (IRQ) 30-27.
Women's finals
45kg: Somruethai Siripathum (THA) beat Ha Huu Huynh (VIE) 30-27. 48kg: Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Colleen Saddi (PHI) 30-27.
51kg: Wansawang Srila Or (THA) beat Thuy Phuong Trieu (VIE) 29-28. 54kg: Ruchira Wongsriwo (THA) beat Zeinab Khatoun (LBN) 30-26.
57kg: Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Zahra Nasiri Bargh (IRI) 30-27. 60kg: Kaewrudee Kamtakrapoom (THA) beat Sedigheh Hajivand (IRI) TKO round 2.
63.5kg: Nadiya Moghaddam (IRI) w/o Reem Al Issa (JOR).
