I’m sure not so much in the small cities as much as the bigger cities like Bombay and New Delhi. Maybe the Indian guppies could enlighten me on the topic. Is that concept of having girlfriends/boyfriends accepted by parents or is it still taboo?
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
No..Very few families (in big cities mainly) may accept it.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
No..Very few families (in big cities mainly) may accept it.
so it's common to have gf/bf but the families just don't know about it?:D
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
so it's common to have gf/bf but the families just don't know about it?:D
:D...No...it is not very comman. Though almost all youngsters(cannot speak for girls:D) have temptations to go for it. Even among them many won't prefer to go for it or don't have the guts:D
I would say, out of 100 youngsters, may be around 20 of them will have GF/BF and among those 20 only few of their families would come to know about it.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
^^Well i'm just thinking that there are quite a few "love" marriages out there so obviously those marriages must have started as a gf/bf type relationship in college or high school.
I remember one time when I had been to India there was a particular park right near an Indian college and what seemed to be a completely empty park was full of couples but they were just in inconspicuous parts(behind bushes or trees) of the park doing God know what:CareBear:. Just might be an isolated incident though.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
yeah…true. But some or very few may still prefer not crossing the “limits” till they get married even if they love and want to get married eventually.
I too have seen that 
…I have to tell another incident with that…At my friends place, there is one park. That locality is very silent and calm. A couple used to daily visit that park and we could see them from the window of my friends top floor room. But a neighbouring aunty living in another house next to the park complained to the police to prevent the couple from coming to the park daily so that her children don’t have to see such things. There was some argument between that couple and that aunty also which we all could hear and see
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
If dating was completely not accepted in India, then all those nightclubs would be empty which is obviously not the case and valentine's day wouldn't be so popular there either.
Hey I never dated just because it went against my personal beliefs then but now i feel like dating(within limits) is ok after a certain age just so a person isn't so uncomfortable with the opposite gender.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
so it's common to have gf/bf but the families just don't know about it?:D
thats common and 80% in my group are love marriages and most of then eloped :D
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
If dating was completely not accepted in India, then all those nightclubs would be empty which is obviously not the case and valentine's day wouldn't be so popular there either.
true....and I have to differentiate falling in love and dating. In india, dating will more likely end up being in love and marriage i think unlike in west. and even among my friends who all married, majority were love marriages whom they "dated" just once.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
I don't know if it's very different between India or Pakistan, but I very highly doubt "dating" in Pakistan is at all similar to "dating" in the West (amongst Pakistani Muslims).
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
I don't know if it's very different between India or Pakistan, but I very highly doubt "dating" in Pakistan is at all similar to "dating" in the West (amongst Pakistani Muslims).
yea that's what I meant, i'm sure even in India it's nothing like how it is here. Here, many times, dating is more of a "how many women or men can I sleep with" type deal.
So even in Pakistan guys and girls go out with each other(within limits) which eventually leads to marriage?
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
thats common and 80% in my group are love marriages and most of then eloped :D
I think it's even more allowed if the gf/bf is of your own subculture and religion right? I don't know how they do it when the person they fall in love with is of a different subculture and/or religion.....that would definitely be really hard to tell the parents. So your friends got married and the parents obviously didn't approve
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
You'll be surprised but I was in India recently and this gf/bf thing is more common than you can imagine. The parents are still uncomfortable but with the new generation being so independent financially and in just being able to get around, they have more freedom and less respect for our value system.
More common in the metros of course. In fact, I feel that the revolution is soon going to come to western levels!
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
More common in the metros of course. In fact, I feel that the revolution is soon going to come to western levels!
Oh God I hope not:(. In the west it's a bit too free and most of the time there are no morals or no personal rules as such. Lives just get completely messed up sometimes.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
You'll be surprised but I was in India recently and this gf/bf thing is more common than you can imagine.
You and lakkis must have visited some big city!!. But then even in a city like mumbai it would be hard for me to accept that it is comman among 80% of people ...Though i agree that Now things are rapidly changing even in places other than cities!
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
Just as in Pakistan, it depends on social class/background (though its definitely more common in India)...
I'm sure its common in the top 10% of the population (the upper middle class & elite)...
Less so in next 10% (the middle and lower middle classes)
And for the most part, unheard of in the remaining 80% (the impoverished masses).
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
I would have to say that I am a bit shocked that guys and girls do “date” even if it is the top 10% in Pakistan. for some reason I figured it wasn’t acceptable at all.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
You and lakkis must have visited some big city!!. But then even in a city like mumbai** it would be hard for me to accept that it is comman among 80% of people** ...Though i agree that Now things are rapidly changing even in places other than cities!
I think lakkis was saying that 80% of his age group or friends had gf/bf-love marriages not 80% of the city population.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
I think lakkis was saying that 80% of his age group or friends had gf/bf-love marriages not 80% of the city population.
that's what even i meant. it would be hard for me to accept 80% of my classmates in my undergrad having GFs.
Re: Is dating common and accepted in India?
Yeah…I think a lot of foreign born Pakistanis would be kinda surprised by how liberal Pakistani society actually is…as long as you limit yourself to the Defence/Gulberg/Clifton/F-whatever population. I think part of the issue is that most of the Pakistanis in the US tend to come from more conservative, middle class backgrounds in Pakistan to begin with…and on top of that, their parents left the country back in the 70’s, and haven’t really been exposed to any of the changes that have occurred since then.
That said, from what I’ve personally seen with my cousins & with the girls from Pakistan who I knew in college, dating is still not ‘accepted’ the way it is in the US…its still definitely something that’s done kinda on the down low, without your parents finding out. And again, its still pretty much limited to the urban upper classes in Pakistan…