Tale of two cities: A Mumbai-pune match
happy Even 2020 had some
Day, endings. On Valentine’s
who found that meet couples
love elusive of things — most
lockdown — in the midst of a
TLway in 2020, as the in a rather literal ove was in the air meet in the pandemic. the safest place to internet became from on dating apps jumped The number of Indians according to to 31 million in 2020, 18.4 million in 2019 offline dates and forum Statista. With the German data of interactions table, the nature hook-ups off the Three months were talking more. changed too. People more people were exchanging Tinder found that volume and into the lockdown, up 60% in with conversations Okcupid messages than before, in India. just before the lockdown 28% in duration since go up by 12%. voice saw matches video and
a 38% increase in
Bumble has reported when India
since late March, calls in the 10 months eventually last
lockdown that would announced a hard
68 days. their
forced people to evaluate
“I think the pandemic
to us all what we became clearer relationships. It change,” says
and what needed needed in our lives at
a relationship consultant Shahzeen Shivdasani, meaningful
were making more
Bumble India. “People was completely
as the physical aspect connections
during the lockdown.” removed as people
with uncertainty,
In a time riddled
new connections reached out to form around the world acquaintances, singles were with neighbours,
and relationships, they defined love also rethinking how and asking
to the fundamentals returning
to them, says counsellor what was most important
therapist Arati Kedia. and dance movement
took priority in and conversation
Companionship Dating,
came before romance. many cases. Friendship drives, all-night
old-school — long effectively, went treasured because
simple moments phone conversations,
was so far away. we the next meeting I’d been on where
the first such date six “Our first date was Sinha, 29, one of the
no filters,” Devlina actually talked, with
in the pandemic. to who found love says her couples we spoke hero in me,” brought out the film
my car “Trying to meet her of groceries into
31. “I’d load bags kitten partner Varun Kumar, them. Or take
my
I needed to deliver and, if stopped, say
going to the vet.” treated along and say I was rather than together and tackled,
says Hurdles were faced 27, an only child,
on. Joshna Joseph, first as a reason to move when she and unused to chores
neatness she was disorganised 28 and a partner, Conroy D’costa,
me moved in with her and helped
patient and caring freak. “He was says.
disciplined,” she become a bit more of the power
is also a reminder
Each of the six stories so much
would have been of love. “The lockdown
it with,” Karthik had her to spend worse if I hadn’t our second
Kashika Gupta. “On
Yermunja says of make me
that he would always date he promised says
it,” Devlina Sinha chai, whenever I wanted would
“I think the lockdown of Varun Kumar. much
it would have been have been horrible, Ankit
had each other,” worse if we hadn’t
Parashar.
Dutta says of Nilanjana
meet people who This Valentine’s Day,
it in love and made met virtually, fell
in the midst work, through a lockdown
that even 2020 of a pandemic, proving
happy endings. had at least some hey matched on Tinder in March and seemed to like all the same things — art, bookstores, long walks. But Priya Dali, a freelance illustrator, was in Mumbai, Meera K, a Teach for India fellow, was at least 100 km away in Pune, and a nationwide lockdown was about to be enforced.
It would be six “excruciating” months before they actually met. In the lonely meanwhile, they bonded over hours-long Zoom calls in which they “really talked”, got to know one another, complained about work and just kept each other company.
They found in each other, they say, just the thing each needed in her life. In Dali, Meera found a patient listener and a veteran worker-fromhome with helpful tips to offer. In Meera, Dali found an A+ motivator. “If you need a pep talk, she can totally bring it,” Meera says.
Once restrictions eased, Dali took a trip to Pune and they met, for the first time, in September. “It didn’t feel like I was meeting a new person, since we’d had all sorts of conversations by then,” Dali says.
She stayed for two weeks, time they spent cooking, geeking out over children’s books, visiting cafes and bookstores, and going on long walks.
Dali and Meera have visited each other several times over the last few months. The night-long Zoom calls will continue, though, since they’re going to be in separate cities for the foreseeable future.
vKarthik and Kashika talk love and pet peeves, in Bengaluru