The Solicitor and the Pretty Dress

A solicitor: he looked all right and our brief exchange on the internet ticked all the right superficial boxes. Let’s meet.

When you’re passed the sell by date of marriage according to all the aunties in the neighbourhood, pushing you to resort to online matrimonial services, time is of the essence. So it is better to meet up as soon possible to see if there’s any potential in person. It’s very easy to develop a relationship over a screen then have a nasty shock when you finally physically meet and realise they don’t match up to your imagination.

Landing Miscue

Miscue: noun 1. A mistake.

Eventually you decide, enough is enough. To them halal dating website I go! Everyone else is doing it. What harm could it do? Well, they never did have my experience.

I logged into such a site and found myself engaged in a conversation with a Pilot. Did someone say, airmiles?! Ker-ching! And a man in uniform definitely does not hurt either!

Regular girl, celebrity dreams…

“I’m here see you soon” read the text, I was making my way to meet what a second generation Muslim Brit would call a ‘potential rishta’ and unfortunately risked running late in the process. However there was much reason to remain optimistic as this potential seemed to fit the bill; well-spoken, educated, attractive, (from what I can see of her pics anyway) however by this point I knew that angled selfies, mascara and contouring can make a huge difference to ones appearance therefore I remained positively cautious.

The Pickle of Picking a Profile

A few friends have met their ‘one’ through Facebook, so that had to be a method to try. Add a random on Facebook. Sounds easy enough, right? It definitely wasn’t.

The First Rishta

Rishta: noun 1. A hindi/urdu word for a marriage proposal or prospect.

It has to begin somewhere. And my experience came about quite late for a desi female – it was in my late 20s and that too when I reluctantly agreed to meet my first rishta via a proposal to my family. No, we didn’t know each other and had never met and would first meet with more than just the whole family in attendance. Oh gee golly fun!

The Desi Dating Experience

Despite being a modern desi, it has always been about getting rishtha’d. And this is our collective experience towards the one (of many!). So sit back, grab a cup of chai and join us on this adventure.