New Delhi: Nishita Sinha was lonely, a migrant in this vast friendless city of buildings and busybodies. She had a job, a flatmate and two cats. She had money in her hands and freedom but not a company to have a movie night with.
But an Insta reel pushed her inside an ever-expanding social circle where strangers are challenging their boundaries to make friends, network, and even find life partners.
On Saturday night, Nishita and Mini, lost in the rhythm of Bollywood beats, were swaying and singing together with infectious joy. It appeared like a perfect picture of a deep, unbreakable friendship. Except, a few months ago, one didn’t even know the other existed. Their paths crossed at a “strangers meetup” event.
Meeting strangers, finding friends or partners, not online but through face-to-face socialising, is becoming a popular way to tackle loneliness in India’s metros. It’s a step away from the digital world. Over the past three years, groups such as Xcited, Mitramesh, Let’s Socialise, TheYukai, Ooparclub, ThriftySocial, and MeetByFate have been helping people connect and form new bonds in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, among other cities.
“Social networking groups are the future of connecting people and promoting face-to-face socialising” says founder of Let’s Socialise
It was sometime in October last year that Nishita, who lives in Lajpat Nagar, decided to enlarge her social circle. She broke the office-home bubble and the company of gadgets to make real human connections. Now she loves meeting new people, hearing their stories, and sometimes also being part of them. On a weekday, mindlessly scrolling on social media, she encountered reels from several social networking groups promoting stranger meetups and ended up at one of MitraMesh’s events in Hauz Khas.
“Social networking groups are the future of connecting people and promoting face-to-face socialising. They not only help people find their match or vibe, but also address the loneliness many experience in big cities and even within their own family and friend circles,” said Ravinder Singh, founder of Let’s Socialise, a platform that organises singles meetups across 16 cities.
Covid lockdown aggravated the loneliness pandemic, making many reflect on the need for social networking, albeit offline.
“There are over fifty such groups organising social meetups all over India, and the growth and trend have been rapidly increasing over the past two years,” added Singh.
These meetups are a breeding ground for a diverse crowd experience — an IT guy can get to share the room with an art teacher. It’s an offline professional networking opportunity. With their socialising appetite yet to reach saturation, Nishita and Mini have been attending such events for almost six months now.
“Here, people come from diverse backgrounds, such as doctors, engineers, journalists, lawyers, singers, and dancers. You can become friends with them, and they are always willing to offer help in the future as well,” said Nishita, 23, freelance content creator.
Instagram has played a key role in popularising this trend, with many reels promoting fun, entertaining activities—selling excitement of meeting new people. Such promos often feature people dancing in clubs or running through parks, playfully hitting someone with a ball to get them out. One such reel has the caption: “From strangers to family. Wanna join?”
Another reel shows a vibrant potluck party in the park, where a group of people gather, share food and know each other’s story.
“After school and college, there aren’t many places to meet new people and form friendships, but these events provide a space to once again be part of a group, where you can share different kinds of relationships,” said Vasu Vashisht, founder of MitraMesh.
The loneliness epidemic
On a chilly Sunday afternoon in January, a lively group of about 30 people, aged between 18 and 27, gathered at Asita Park. The host, 22-year-old Suhani Bothra, founder of Xcited, kicked off the event by welcoming the crowd and encouraging everyone to introduce themselves — they were all strangers to each other. With ice broken, she then asked the group to form a large circle, announcing that the first game of the day, “Dog and Bone,” was about to begin. The excitement was palpable.
“I’ve been living in Delhi for a few months now, preparing for a government job exam. After spending so much time at my flat studying, I felt the need to step out, meet new people, and connect. However, I didn’t have any friends in this new city,” said 23-year-old Avi Agarwal who joined an activity or strangers meetup for the first time. Originally from Bihar, Agarwal is in Delhi preparing for government exams.
And it’s just not the migrants who are lost in big cities. Loneliness is an epidemic that ails even those living with their families. 24-year-old Shivani Singh doesn’t want to spend every weekend with her family. Booking a spot for MitraMesh’s music jamming event is her escape from the family drama or telling her “unavailable friends” that she has other options. She headed out to spend her Saturday evening at a cafe in Greater Kailash.
Shivani walked into the café that was already brimming with people singing and dancing. At first, she thought she had entered the wrong place. The crowd had gelled in well and the vibe made it look like a bunch of friends were partying. She felt like an outsider. However, even before she could settle, a woman approached her, introduced herself, and pulled Shivani onto the dance floor.
“That’s when I realised—how, people are forming connections here without even knowing each other,” said Shivani.
“Migration to urban cities for career opportunities, living away from family and friends, racing towards materialistic goals, hardly any time for oneself or others, and the disintegration of family networks and bonds—all of these factors are contributing to isolation and associated issues like depression, anxiety, insecurities, alcohol/substance misuse, existential crises, and unhealthy lifestyles. When people started realizing the cause, they began looking for solutions,” said Dr. Sameer Malhotra, Senior Director & Head, Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket.
“Real-time, face-to-face interactions are more effective as they allow for clearer communication, better understanding and the flow of emotions,” added Malhotra.
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Building a strangers’ ecosystem
In an era where digital connections often lack depth, and social isolation is increasingly common, Suhani Botra has taken it upon herself to create a space where strangers meet, share their stories, and build lasting friendships.
“The events are curated with ice-breaking activities that allow even the shyest participants to open up and feel comfortable sharing their stories.”
Suhani’s journey toward founding Xcited began right after her graduation in 2023, when she was exploring various career paths—from PR and podcasting to content creation and advertising. However, despite having a diverse set of experiences, something was missing. Suhani wanted to build something that was deeply human-centered, a platform where real stories could be shared and strangers could form meaningful connections. After discussing the idea with her friend, she came up with Xcited and launched it in October 2023.
“The events are curated with ice-breaking activities that allow even the shyest participants to open up and feel comfortable sharing their stories,” said Suhani.
At one of the Let’s Socialise events, they started with the Telephone Game (similar to Chinese whispers, but with actions instead of words). The audience lined up in a straight queue, facing away from each other. One person would perform an action, and the next person would turn around, observe the action, and try to pass it on by doing the same action. The game continued as the action was passed to the last person in the queue.
At one of MitraMesh’s events, the participants played “Throw the Ball in the Glass.” At one corner of a rectangular table, there were about 10 paper cups arranged, and from the opposite corner, the person had to throw the ball into one of the cups. The loser has to answer a question from the audience.
Suhani, along with the founders of MitraMesh and Let’s Socialise, Vasu Vashisht and Ravinder Singh, respectively, agreed on one thing. While these events typically attract a larger number of individuals who are single or living away from their families, local people living with their families too drop by at such events.
“Often, people come without informing their families, saying they are going to a stranger meetup. Even when living with their families, individuals can still feel lonely,” said Vasu.
Organisations hosting such events mostly run their groups through Instagram, and to join these groups or participate in their events, one has to fill out a form and make a registration payment, which is usually done online. There are also gender and age criteria to become a part of some communities.
Strangers, friends, to partner
Let’s Socialise, its founder said, has arranged the most number of singles meetups till now. Ravinder Singh, founder of the community, has seen people becoming friends, dating after their meetups. Some even got married. Singh said, after dating apps, these events are the future of dating and knowing people from up close. It was his personal experience from dating apps that inspired him to come up with this idea where you can meet people, have fun and make new relationships without swiping left or right on a fake photo.
Let’s Socialise, which started in November 2022, has organised more than 175 events across cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Noida, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chandigarh. Some meetups have happened in Dubai as well. Each event organised by Let’s Socialise maintains an equal male-to-female ratio, keeping in mind that it is a singles meetup.
“We are the first and oldest one to start something like this and later people who were our attendees started their group and started arranging events,” said Singh.
Singh shared some messages with ThePrint from people who had written to them after attending their events, having found their best friends or even their soulmate. One of the attendees had shared how her friend found a partner at one of Let’s Socialise’s events and got married. It’s this story that brought her here.
Singh said that the willingness to spend money to meet strangers highlights the extent of loneliness in society and the growing desperation to break free from the confines of the online world and apps.
“These have also become healing spaces.”
(Edited by Ratan Priya)