Modern-day Love!

 The news headline read, "Dating apps see matches bloom".

The introductory paragraph of that particular article read as follows:

Dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Truly Madly are witnessing a surge of activity in India, with some clocking as much as a 140% rise in subscribers.

I'd be lying if I say that I haven't tried any of the dating apps. When the lockdown began, there was a lot of hype about dating apps all around, especially among the college students like me. So one fine day, out of utter curiosity, I too decided to download one of these apps just for getting to know how this online dating thing works. That experience made me realize that maybe I'm not made for dating this way. Eventually, I uninstalled the app and decided to never install one again. But a few days back, I came across various advertisements for several dating apps; ergo, with a hope that it'll turn out to be better this time, I reinstalled one of the apps. I could stand being there only for a day because most of the people I talked to seemed to be somewhat self-obsessed. Others weren't really interested in finding love (you know, what I mean). Then there was this one person, who talked well but he wasn't really over his earlier breakup. Talking to him made me realize a lot of things. I'll like to share them with you.

Even though that news article mentioned a rise in the number of subscribers, it never stated the reason for this rise. Most of you might think that people are downloading these apps just for fun and because they have nothing better to do right now. But is this entirely true? Ever wondered if the people on these apps are so heartbroken that they are here just to be healed? Or maybe just to find closure? Or maybe they are there just to find someone to talk to, someone who likely shares the same loneliness and insecurities as they do? These are merely reasons which I felt could be true because there's a possibility that you can turn into a self-obsessed jerk when you bury so many insecurities deep within you. I would like you, as well, to ponder over these questions.

I, personally, don't believe that I can even survive a long-distance relationship, so a relationship developed through any dating app stands out of sight. But I've seen these turn into beautiful bonds for some couples. There was one such case in my college. They met through Tinder and made it all work even though they were in different cities. They used to talk a lot over chat, then these chats turned into calls. One thing led to another and now even their families are rooting for them. Seeing someone's connection get so strong gives a different level of satisfaction. All of this is wonderful but I wish I was born in the '90s, where people did many little things to try and make everything work. They would meet in the garden, hiding from their relatives, and climb over the plumbing pipe, just to give their significant other a rose. They would write letters to each other and fix a time to meet weeks before the meeting (yeah, yeah... All this is inspired from the Bollywood movies). This all seems dramatic but it would've been so pleasing seeing someone make that extra effort for you and so calming, making that extra effort yourself for someone. However, can't really do anything about it now. I wish all of you to be in love with someone ready to make that 90's-Bollywood style extra effort for you!!