From URL to IRL: Mumbai Singles Try Speed Dating This Monsoon

Rain didn’t stop Mumbai’s singles from turning up for a night of real-life connection. The Bombay Times Life.Styled Club organised a speed dating event featuring ice-breakers, dare challenges, compliment rounds and two-minute dates, all built around one idea: skip the endless texting and meet face-to-face.

Kishan Kavadia, who has attended a speed dating event before, said the format offers something dating apps can’t. ‘You get to see a person’s body language and personality immediately,’ he said. For 26-year-old Mahima Kori, who found out about the event through a Times of India ad, the appeal was efficiency. ‘The whole process of texting someone and then meeting is exhausting. Meeting people physically saves so much time,’ she said, adding that she planned to keep talking to a couple of participants after the event.

Priyanka Mahajan, 26, said the format worked well for her — she connected with one participant during a two-minute speed date and is looking forward to seeing where it goes. ‘Meeting someone in person is so much better than judging them through profile pictures,’ she said.

Vatsal Sagar, the event’s social host, said the whole idea was to get participants away from digital screens and catfish profiles. ‘Real connections begin when you interact in person, and that’s exactly what we wanted participants to experience and embrace,’ he said.

Among the participants was 39-year-old single mother Priyanka Amar, who said she’d rather meet someone in person if she had to restart her dating life. ‘I’m old school,’ she said. ‘I’d rather meet someone in person than through an app.’