Historically, dating in the Indian culture has been much different than the rest of the world. Couples are often arranged to marry by their parents as an act of love and protection. It is thought that the wisdom in the older generation will help the younger couple make a better match than they would have on their own.
Marriage is viewed as an important life goal for Indian children, and family members want the very best match for their son or daughter. Oftentimes, the personal opinion of those being matched together is never taken into consideration.
Indian Dating Services On the Rise
Quality people are difficult to meet in any part of society, so it should be no surprise that the use of online Indian dating services has increased in the last few years. Like mainstream dating services, Indian singles can be introduced to a match online by a profile, picture, or community board. Unlike other services such as Match.com or Yahoo Personals, however, many more people log on with the intention of getting married.
The mindset of a non-Indian date site user, by contrast, generally looks for a relationship first, with the possibly of marriage. This distinction may be slight, but it speaks volumes in how Indian singles view the sanctity of marriage.
If you’re an Indian single searching for an online site, here are just a few.
Indiandating.com
This site has been in existence since 1998, and claims that it’s the number one Indian dating site on the Internet. The site boasts hundreds of thousands of members worldwide, and joining in done in three steps: creating a profile, uploading a photo, and contacting other users.
Searching for your soul mate is done with a simple search done with basic criteria, or an advanced search, whereby choices on mate can be narrowed down to that of a nonsmoking vegetarian with the same birth date, for instance.
Basic membership, which allows you to post a profile and receive emails, is completely free. Upgraded memberships allow you to contact others and see who might have browsed your profile. Cost for an upgraded membership is under $5 a month.
Indian Cyberdating.net
Indian Cyberdating.net is an ad-driven site. The upside to singles is that it’s completely free to use as a result. Members rank in the thousands, and singles have the ability to chat via postings (rather than full profiles), message boards, and chat rooms. The site also has a selection of advice articles specific to Indian singles.
Singles India.com
You must be a paid member of Singles India.com in order to make contact with other members in their database. The site has a simplified look that allows you to add a profile or search function fairly easily. Membership fees begin at $9.99 for one month, up to $44.99 for six months.
Shaadi.com
This site claims it’s the “world’s oldest and most successful matrimonial service.” It’s been in existence since 1997, and has hundreds of thousands Indian and Asian members. Shaadi.com boasts over 815,000 matches made, and counting at the time of this article.
They offer free and premium type memberships. Premium membership allows users to respond to other members and post messages on their forums. Packages start at $67 for a three-month membership and go up to $149 for an entire year.
Indian sites generally share the same procedures for getting started with online dating as other mainstream services. So things like creating a profile and uploading a photo follow the same procedure. Etiquette and method of contact, however, are usually done with the possibly of marriage in mind from the start.
As with any online dating service, singles should be smart about safety and giving out any personal information too soon. Internet dating is meant to introduce you to your ideal match, however it’s still up to you to determine which person is right for you.
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