I went home this past weekend to my parent’s house in the suburbs of Chicago. To those that don’t know me as a first generation Indian American, I spent the weekend eating lots of curry and alternatively watching Bollywood films – I loved every minute of it. Midway through the weekend I could hear my mother talking to her sister in New Jersey on the phone about three Indian weddings this summer made possible by shaadi.com (translated to marriage.com). I next found my mother in the den at the computer with a sheepish grin. When I went over by her, she was surfing shaadi.com like an expert. I had to make her promise she would never put up a profile for me with the threat that I would put up a profile for her (she was not amused). My mom was so intrigued by shaadi.com that all weekend she talked about the efficiency of bio-datas on the web and how great it was to rule out mass numbers of eligible men and women across the globe. When I asked her about having to “resort” to online matrimonials she quipped, “as long as you are happy, why do you care?”

I thought no more about it until I returned back to the city and spoke with a friend who was feeling down about watching “The Last Kiss”. This movie should have been rated SHG only – strong happy girls only. Bottom line, girls in relationships feel uneasy after the movie (I didn’t return my boyfriends phone calls for 2 days) and girls outside of relationships feel awful (like said friend).

Thinking back to my weekend and my mother’s preaching about the efficiency of online matchmaking, I spent the next 35 minutes convincing my friend to join match.com. Most of her hesitancy was the stigma surrounding meeting someone online. She became more comfortable with the idea when she browsed the website for 10 minutes and found three great on paper guys. She was even more at ease when I told her I knew normal attractive people that had met their current boyfriends and girlfriends online.

The more I convinced her, the more I realized that match.com was really not bad. What’s wrong with dating someone with the similar outlooks on life and interests without playing the guessing game for the first few months? The guessing game might have been fun thirty years ago when we weren’t leading such hectic lives - working thirteen-hour days and running from volunteer organization to dinner party to yoga class.

I hate to admit it, but maybe my mother was right - does it really matter where or how you meet someone as long as you are happy?



I’m contemplating if I can pass for “social drinker” and “casual smoker”.


On my ipod: “I’ve Got a Match" by They Might be Giants