Soulmates are back in trend in the Mamdani land. A society of singles lined up in front of a booth for hours, answered 26 questions, clicked pictures of themselves, and left it for anyone who finds it. Four thousand of them. It wasn’t a government service, so they still had to pay ten dollars. And then it was all up to the universe and the internet.
“That’s all they give you – a photo and a first name and then it’s up to you, or fate, or the universe, or your friends, or social media. Anyone know Matt? Does he look familiar? Help a sister out,” wrote A New Yorker.
The whole thing is called Missed Connections Booth for a reason. The odds of finding a match this way make it more exciting. A collaborative social experiment done by a dating start-up (Matchbox), a social media account (Meet Cutes NYC) and a photobooth vendor (Faceplace). If my parasocial sister in New York is calling Matt her borrowed match, when she came out of the booth, she showed her guy’s picture to her new friends, and they swapped soulmates.
Now if she does not find Matt ever, or if Matt doesn’t want to be found, she can still keep it as a possibility in some dusty drawer. Or wherever New Yorkers keep hard-copy pictures of hot strangers.
Single fatigue phenomenon
For the romantically obsessed, this is another example of humanity fighting back. A big life with nobody to crush on generates a certain kind of single fatigue that people join run clubs, book clubs, and become regulars at queer bars. Everyone seems to be trying to break out of the dating app circle of hell and replace it with something more real.
Husbands and wives in Gurugram are making tons of money by inviting singles to taste their kitchen experiments. Like all matchmakers, Sima Taparia is also hosting singles meet-ups. It’s not like her wallet is suffering from the lack of romance in the marriage market; she is only making the most by tapping into the yearning crowd. It’s like organising a Samuhik Shaadi for her.
However, the photobooth inventors aren’t trying to set people up like Sima Aunty and her colleagues. Unlike most dating experiments, the New York event isn’t trying to replace the dating apps.
“If you want to find someone to go on a date with this Friday, I would not recommend going to the photobooth. But it has this whimsy and this magical feeling of there’s someone out there for me,” Liam McGregor, co-founder of Matchbox, said. If you found that the “someone” is just not that hot, and you are not absolutely obsessed with them, then you won’t or can’t find them online. I imagine it would still be a hopeful side quest. Most singles who went for the experience came out with a very cute reel, at least.
I am not sure if this won’t turn into another nightmare, but for now, I am happy for the socialist heaven dwellers.
Also read: Can an atheist and a believer fall in love? Most Indians draw a hard line
From home chefs to pickleball
This is a kind of fantasy that suits the current state of my singlehood. If I were insane and loaded, I would go to singles mixers in Delhi, but I am not that insane and not that loaded. So, I just live through whimsical people pursuing love in the wild.
August is ripe with all kinds of IRL matchmaking events across India. Gurugram home chefs have a fresh new menu to dish out. Pickleball courts are booked for the month. States are also witnessing the phenomenon of protest-dating.
In Mumbai and Bengaluru, kink gurus have organised a supper for “pain lovers”. My unpaid stringer in Bengaluru reported that an excited pain-lover is upset he won’t be able to attend. It’s happening on his mom’s birthday.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)