Indian culture dates back to at least thousands of years back and this culture still has its strong presence within the daily lives of most of the Indians. Dating and courting are not topics that are unheard of, but mostly these are never a topic that would be discussed openly over a cup of coffee. The reason behind this is due to the social stigma and the time tested system of arranged marriage. The social structure in India is very rigid and casual dating without the firm goal of marriage is not an appreciated practice.
The new generations of youngsters are very open and adaptive to the western social practices like dating. With the advent of internet into the country the youngsters are exposed to information of biblical scale and also to other cultures. Dating is nowadays considered to be an essential part of the lives of most of the teenagers in India.
This change is very evident in the metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkota) due to inflow of many foreign MNC's who bring along their culture and ideas. Smaller cities like Hyderabad, Chandigarh are also experiencing a sudden surge in the advent of western culture.
One of the most important events that introduced the concept of dating has been the opening up of the Indian economy to the MNC's. This brought in a situation where people who were working in these companies had to interact with individuals from the opposite sex. But due to nature of closed society that was prevalent, there were many hiccups. The ability to interact efficiently with the opposite sex was a barrier that many youngsters wanted to overcome, because this affected them personally and professionally.
Today we can see quite a few dating services coming up in India. These can be broadly classified into three categories.
Matrimonial Service agencies are run by professional matchmakers. The possibility of finding a suitable partner for their children is a driving force causing the parents to accept and appreciate these services. Matrimonial Sites are spurting up dozens a day in India and they are accepted even faster by the public. Matrimonial in India is incredibly specific in religion, caste, language, and location needed that these matrimonial services can find the suitable partners perfectly and with less hassles.
Online dating services have entered India with a big bang. The latest trend has been the increase in number of dating services offering services that can be better described as `Indianized'.
Speed dating is the latest addition to dating services provided in India. When compared to traditional dating; speed dating provides minimal time to decide whether to go out with a person or not, whom you have just met. But the trend seems to be catching up because most of the youngsters are not looking at deriving long term relationship but mostly a brief stint of friendship.
Rich people in Mumbai are now getting their first chance to experience what speed dating is. They are given 3 minutes initially to impress each other and then they move on to the next stage. Also people feel that the western culture of speed dating has become phenomenal in India and is successful too. Also they relate this to the century old tradition of speed marriage, telling that these compliment those traditions.
The reason for the evolution of dating services is partly due to the surge in the number of youngsters becoming independent at a very young age both economically and emotionally.
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