5 Modern date ideas. Read these and thank us later.

 Modern date ideas are all we need in 2023 for date planning. Going to the movies or for lunch at a restaurant has now become boring. We need something more creative for a first date to ensure things kick off well and we make memories for a lifetime. As they say, if it starts well, it’s a good beginning. 

Here are some cool first-date ideas that will set a good course for things to follow. 

1. Cycle around your city - What’s better than walking around together or going out for a car trip? Take a sustainable biking trip around the city and cycle your heart out. You can keep it low key and simple to let your inner child out and bond with each other. While something extravagant may feel more date-like, a simple bonding session over a cycling trip helps. And you both also get some fresh air on the way. 

2. Volunteer together to connect more meaningfully - You can also plan your first date around something meaningful, be it a beach clean up or an awareness drive. Doing something meaningful together can create some core memories and play a role in making you aware about your potential partner’s beliefs. You will also be able to see their compassionate side and reveal your own while creating a good impact on this world.

3. Sip and paint - You don’t have to be the best artist in the world to try this. You can be just good enough. Attend a sip and paint session so you can enjoy each other’s company while unleashing your creative side. It’s a good idea to bond over art and a good glass of wine. A dreamy date indeed. 

4. Go to a local market together - There is something charming about local and cute markets. You don’t have to visit a fancy shopping mall for a first date or eat at an expensive restaurant. You could do something simple like visit a local handicrafts market and see things you haven’t seen before. You could also visit an antiques market and talk about the old heritage items in the stores. It’s an interesting conversation for the first time and surely something you will remember for a good time to come. Don’t forget some local street coffee or a good cuppa chai to bond over. 

5. Watch a theater performance - Most people choose something easy like a movie for a first date. However, there is a little charm to that. You could watch a play at a theater together and bond over that to truly connect over the little things in life. Watching people perform live and seeing their emotions on stage is a completely different awe-inspiring experience. Imagine - you will have so much to talk about after the first date! 

Let us know in the comments which of these you tried and how you enjoyed your first date! Share your date ideas with us too!

Does manifestation work? How to make it work in your favour?

 A lot of people ask us at MatchMe, does manifestation work? The simple answer is yes! However, it’s not like magic how most people imagine it to be. Manifestation is almost like science as explained by master manifestor Neville Goddard. He explained how visualization and imagining can play a crucial role in creating a better life. According to Neville, we are all capable of manifesting and creating the world around us. The best-selling book, “The Secret” also highlights how we can “Think, Believe and Receive”. It’s possible because if we can think it and believe it, we will act in a way to attract the very thing. Therefore, we will also receive it. 

Now, if it works. How do we make manifestation work in our favor? We must imagine the best possible outcome for us to ensure that the best takes place in our life. Moreover, a lot of people expect manifestation to give results quickly but just like the Earth takes time to spin on its axis and complete a day, manifestation has its own way of working that is not known to us. We must be patient and give it time to work out. Quick results are the biggest myth in this world. You cannot do an action only for one day and expect the results the very next. Manifestation takes time. 

A key way to make manifestation work is by putting in time to visualize the outcome we are seeking. Only when we have clarity on the outcome will we be able to work towards it and attain a goal. However, if we don’t have clarity, we won’t be able to attract what we are seeking. Manifestation works with relationships as much as with goals. If you have clarity that you want to take a year-end trip to Maldives with your partner, you will work towards it and save for the rest of the year to make it happen. However, if you don’t have clarity on it, you will not be able to work and make it happen. It’s crucial to have clarity and approach everything in a scientific way. It’s crucial to plan steps ahead to ensure things go right and happen in time. We cannot jump from step one to step ten. We must take it a step at a time toward our goal. 

Hence, manifestation when broken down is nothing but clarity and logical planning. If we plan and make it happen, it’s possible. If we subconsciously believe something is possible, we give it our best to make it happen. What is it that you want to manifest? Use a paper and pen and clearly jot down all the details. Make it happen. 

Why understanding the Chinese Yin Yang philosophy will benefit you in any relationship?

The Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang and the underlying Taoist philosophy has been preached by many love experts across the world. This philosophy has also been propagated by people who have been happily married for over 50 years! Surely, there is something special about this philosophy that has ensured people are speaking about it for so many years!

According to the Yin Yang philosophy, there is a masculine and feminine side to everyone. And this depiction is made with one side being black and the other being white. The philosophy states that no two individuals are the same. To live together, it’s important to appreciate the differences that are very much a figment of reality. Most couples tend to focus on similarities at the start of a relationship and bond over that. However, this is not particularly healthy. It is crucial to focus on the differences and find harmony with their existence. It is common for partners to have different hobbies, interests, goals, career expectations, life expectations, and opinions. It is important to appreciate these differences rather than expecting common interests throughout.

Moreover, when partners have diverse hobbies, both partners have different viewpoints to bring to the table. This results in a more powerful relationship with a greater perspective rather than a narrow relationship with the same perspective being echoed. Moreover, couples that have lived together for too long often feel like space is lacking between the partners. They tend to feel suffocated by spending too much time together. Spending time on different hobbies and cultivating those hobbies individually can lead to the creation of space within a relationship. Moreover, each partner also feels a greater sense of ownership over their own time and does not feel restricted to their social circle being only around their partner.

When both partners appreciate the differences between each other, there is also greater harmony between the partners rather than arguments to find common ground. While there is nothing bad about arguing in a healthy manner and having a discussion about a topic, often it leads to resentment over the argument and breeds more arguments. Sometimes, the argument can also involve a condescending tone which is detrimental to the relationship in the long term. The Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang appreciates the harmony that needs to be created for a long-term relationship.

Being happily married is not a myth. It’s a reality that comes with hard work and constant work on our own values and philosophy. For there to be a happy relationship with greater harmony and peace, the Yin Yang philosophy must be embodied in some form or another in the relationship. If you start following it, your relationship will be better in the long term!

5 tips for overcoming the "box-feeling" and opening your heart

In life, you might feel like you’re in a “box” where you can’t see anything outside it and your vision is limited. The truth is we are all feeling like that at some point but it’s good that you acknowledge it. Sometimes this “box” like feeling can prevent you from falling in love or seeing the love that you’re surrounded with. It’s crucial to overcome this feeling and feel free.

 Here are 5 tips to overcome the “box” feeling and open your heart to the good things in life. 

1. Try a healing class like Kintsugi - The Japanese art of healing is very popular and you must try it to overcome the “box” feeling. It makes you realise that your flaws are beautiful and make you you! Moreover, it makes you realise that we are all broken and beautiful in our own way.
2. Go for a solo trip - It might seem challenging to plan a solo trip and execute it but nothing helps more than being in the mountains or by the hillside on your own. A solo trip can really do the trick. You must explore someplace on your bucket list solo to see what you are truly capable of. 
3. Try an art workshop - Art is a great way to break free and to let out your inner child. Feeling boxed is common and sometimes just playing with colors in one form or another helps a lot. You must try an art workshop or visit a sculpting center where you can play like a child and create something. This will reinstate your confidence and make you feel more free. It will also add a new jest to your life.
4. Don’t stay indoors too much - Often staying indoors for too long can create a negative feeling in you without you realizing it. Staying in your comfort zone for too long is never good. It’s essential to step out of your comfort zone every now and then. If you stay indoors for too long, you might be feeling “boxed” subconsciously but you might not even realise it. It’s important for you to keep stepping out and perhaps take a walk in nature to understand yourself more closely.
5. Spend time with your favorite person - We all have a favourite person, be it a parent or a teacher or a best friend. It is important to spend time with your favourite person so you can let your heart out or just feel the comfort of their company. It’s great to spend time and do something you love together - be it watching a comfort film or watching the sunset. These things make you realize how much it would mean to enjoy these activities with a partner. Therefore, you will see your heart open slowly! 

Let us know which ones of these you tried and how they helped you. You can comment below or DM us on Instagram/ LinkedIn.

Will therapy help you to find a better life partner

The simple answer to this is yes! Therapy will help you find a better partner. Therapy helps one to realize their own unhealthy patterns in life and work on them. This realization fuels growth and impacts visualization of oneself, one’s friends, love life, career, and other dimensions. Once you break free from your own preconceived notions, finding success in love and outside becomes easier. Marriage not only involves working on loving someone else but also involves constantly finding the will to love yourself more powerfully. It’s about self-love as much as the more popular version of love we are seeking.

Often in life, one experiences trauma or has bad experiences in previous relationships. It’s easy to hold onto those experiences and shape our lives based on them. However, it is essential to build a new self and a better self. Therapy plays a crucial role in helping one to do that. It breaks preconceived notions and helps to build a new and better you. 

A lot of people expect therapy to work like magic but just like anything else, it takes time. Finding the right match for you also takes time. While you’re finding a good match, it’s always good to also try therapy to understand your own thought and belief system. As many people say, the match you find is often just as good as you. It’s essential to build a better version of yourself to find a better match too.

While many people might want to try therapy only to attract more love into their life. It’s crucial to keep in mind that we are complete within ourselves. Only if we feel that sense of completeness and fulfillment within ourselves can we find love elsewhere from a powerful place. Love is empowered when we are empowered. The goal of therapy is to find more love within. And that love within is what helps to breed more love outside.

Therapy is also great when both partners do it as an ongoing process. This helps to build and grow together and fuels a stronger individual mindset between both partners. Therapy is of multiple types. It could involve a conversation with a therapist, a spa, a healing session, or anything that makes you feel more connected to yourself and reveals something about yourself to you. There’s no single definition of therapy.

 Even with second marriages, often the partners who have tried therapy are able to break free from stigmas from their first marriage or overcome grief. It is crucial to find more power, healing, and peace within to cultivate that in a relationship. With any relationship, it is important to have two emotionally healthy people in the relationship. Therapy often leads to more peace in life and better relationships.

To answer the initial question - With therapy, you can be a better version of yourself and therefore attract a better partner too.

Youngsters Log On To Matrimonial Sites

Survey finds that most of Kannadigas youngsters log on to matrimonial sites and manage their own profiles online.

Mishi Sood

A report by KannadaMatrimony.com says young Kannadigas are now taking decisions related to their marriages into their own hands. Unlike a few years ago, when profiles on matrimony websites were made and managed by family members, youngsters are now registering themselves on these sites and managing it themselves.

As per the report, 70 per cent of the total profiles were created by the individuals themselves; out of which, 55 per cent (in the age-group of 23 to 27) were female and 45 per cent (in the age-group of 26 to 30) were male.

Why this cultural change?

With better decision-making ability and greater access to technology, the decision of marriage has moved from parents to the younger lot themselves on online matrimony sites.

“Internet penetration and the mobile boom has led to better access and online control among the younger generation. They also have a better understanding of the behavioural eco-system than the older generation,” says Saichithra Swaminathan, chief portal and mobile officer, Matrimony.com

Young Kannadigas are not just looking at traditional aspects of match-making, like horoscope compatibility, equations between the families and professionals, but also other aspects like hobby and lifestyle choices of their prospective partners.

Matrimony sites in the age of dating apps 

“There is a clear demarcation in the way both function, as well as the intent. Dating apps are preferred by a younger age group who are in an exploratory phase. In matrimony sites, the users come with a clear and serious intent of marriage, a long-term relationship with a pre-defined time limit for the search. I don’t think both these platforms overlap so much,” Saichitra points out.

Saurabh Goswami, Founder, Ultra Rich Match, a matrimonial platform for the elite, points out that the trend is similar even among the very affluent.

“The rich are now more open and flexible in marrying someone outside their community. Also, educational qualification of both the bride and groom are of great interest to the families now,” he says.

“People between the ages of 22 to 60 have registered online on our platform. There has been an increase in the number of users above 50 years, who are looking for a life companion. By this age they are well-settled and healthy but perhaps have lost their partner and that has created a vacuum,” he adds.

Offline matrimony: Personalised match-making

Mishi Sood, co-founder of MatchMe, an offline, matrimonial platform, says that youngsters are searching for partners themselves offline also and are open to people from different communities.

“This generation is well-travelled and educated. They meet new people and experience new cultures when they go out of the country for higher studies, jobs or trips. This helps them keep an open mind and be comfortable with different types of people,” she observes.

For an offline portal, the average age of a user is 30 and onwards.

“It is the age when the thought of settling down creeps in and they start looking for personalised match-makers. We have enquiry coming in for overseas partners too; South Africa, London, Singapore, Canada and the US are preferred countries,” says Mishi.

A noticeable trend in the offline space is that of women in their 40s and men in their 50s coming forward for their own marriage. “This is the age-group which is not comfortable about hunting for life partners online,” she says.

Unlike online platforms, the demand here is more for chartered accountants, lawyers and people from a similar industry.

Wallet factor

MatchMe - Rs 50,000   

Ultra Rich Match - Rs 29,500 (for standard package)

Matrimony.com - Rs 49,000 for 3 months (basic package)

How This Delhi-based Startup Become an Exclusive Boutique Matrimonial Service

Fancy online dating may sound good but it is not everyone’s cup of tea to keep contacting random people on the internet. Mostly information and pictures shared aren’t necessarily correct which make the online dating space very doubtful. For people who have less time and are more selective, personalized matchmaking works better. Matchme, a personalized matchmaking service, based in New Delhi, is one such service which filters and curates matches for all its clients and makes sure they only meet suitable people. Started by two girls, Mishi and Tania, being in their 30s, they connect to everyone in the age group from 20s to their 40s.

Understanding their personalities, MatchMe aims to make selective introductions. Most of the matches done by them have been only in the first few introductions. That is the advantage of personalized matchmaking . You do not keep meeting endless number of people to look out for the right one to settle down with. Personalized matchmakers make you meet people only if they feel they could connect with. This approach works well for the ones who have less time but enough money to shell out the fee for this search-based process.

Personalized matchmaking maybe a traditional business which most parents resorted to when there were no online portals, MatchMe has redefined the approach. In addition to meeting the anxious parents, they interact with all girls and boys who are looking out, asking them personal questions which the parents may not be able to answer.

This way the whole approach becomes comfortable, transparent and more effective. Another advantage of using a personalized matchmaking service could be confidentiality. It is not uncommon to come across your neighbour or someone you went to school with while browsing through matrimonial websites. To make sure that your personal information and your intent to get married is not on display for the world to see, and to narrow down your search, personalized matchmakers like MatchMe, personally put you in touch with those with whom you are most likely to hit it off with. 

If one is well established, reached a certain age, online dating may just seem a very superficial approach as credibility of the profiles available on matrimonial websites is one of the biggest concerns for anyone who finds them interesting and wants to send them a message. To address this concern, personalized matchmakers make sure they meet the people before they set up a meeting, going the extra mile to ensure that no woman claiming to be tall and slim turns out to be the other way. Personalized matchmakers work like friends with their clients, also helping them overcome the biggest challenge of the awkwardness and friction people feel about coming to meet someone they don’t know.

Perhaps with the influx of new websites to cater to the matrimonial needs of the urban Indian, the menace of the internet that is creeping in our lives along with the advantages, we’ll see a shift in the way matchmaking is done for the well educated and well established lot, as they want to turn away from the online sites to more meaningful personal introductions that saves not only their time but also maintains their privacy.

Mishi Sood & Tania Sondhi – Founders of MatchMe

About the founders

Mishi Sood (Co founder)

A boarding school educated from Sacred Heart Dalhousie and graduate from Lady Shri Ram College Delhi with a Masters degree in Finance from Amity Business School, is a co-founder of this company. She worked in a Business Consultancy firm for two years before joining her family business of real estate. She belongs to an affluent and well connected family of Punjab and Delhi and eventually moved onto something she enjoys the most. MatchMe was created out of sheer passion and inclination towards knowing and meeting people from various backgrounds. After playing cupid for few of her friends and then subsequently being approached by people to find them a life partner, she realized this need had to be addressed in a more organized way. Henceforth, MatchMe – an exclusive and extremely personalized service to help you find a partner for lifetime.

Tania Sondhi, (Co founder)

A Delhi University Amity Business School MBA graduate in Marketing, Tania is the co-founder of MatchMe. She has several years of high level experience in the recruiting and HR industry. She has conducted executive searches for several top companies in India and the Middle East. Understanding the nuances of people’s needs and actualizing them is her core strength. After honing her skills in successfully recruiting the right talent for companies both in India as well as internationally, she has decided to use her impeccable strengths to bringing the right people together for relationships for life.

Tania belongs to a renowned family from Jalandhar and is married into a well-established family in Delhi. Her great family lineage and education give her a uniquely blended perspective of traditional and modern values. Married for 13 years to the love of her life, Tania wholeheartedly believes in the adage “a great marriage is not when the perfect couple comes together, it is when the imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences”. We are publishing an interview with her:

Q.: Tell us about the Product / Solution. How did you get your first customer? Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.

Ans: MatchMe is deeply connected to compatibility, understanding, love and respect. Our Founders, Tania and Mishi bring with them a fresh approach to traditional matchmaking. MatchMe was created out of sheer passion and inclination towards knowing and meeting people from various backgrounds. Mishi, after playing cupid for few of her friends and then subsequently being approached by people to find them a life partner, realized this need had to be addressed in a more organized way. Tania, through her personal experiences, realizes how meaningful and joyful life can be if you spend it with the ‘right’ person. Hence the significance of connecting with the ‘one’ and the commitment of MatchMe towards making this happen.The modern reality is that we are constantly bombarded with information and choices. MatchMe seeks to curate that information and those choices to help you narrow your search for your life partner. We use our in-depth, personalized approach to understanding your priorities and then use that information to match you with the right one. With an open mind, they are committed to fill the gap that exists in this area.

Q.: What is your USP?

Ans: Matchme has been derived on sheer passion & interest to connect like-minded people for marriage. Our USP is that we two are personally involved in meeting and interacting with all our clients, understanding their backgrounds, personalities & interests & henceforth curate matches. We believe in putting the right kind of effort & making our clients meet only when it is worth their time and interest. Today’s youth shy away from this process because they feel their profiles will be all over the place. For this reason, we partner with them like friends to make introductions. We maintain a discreet approach maintaining client privacy and make the process extremely comfortable for our clients. Our real success lies in the fact that most of the matches we’ve done so far have been first introductions.

Q.: What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have? Who in your mind is your ideal customer? Do you have at least one of them signed up?

Ans: We believed a lot of people out there were looking out for introductions for marriage but were not comfortable with the services available in the market in this space. The bureaus and agencies’ ways of working were not what they were looking for. They were mainly relying on introductions through family and friends which over time keep shrinking. When we started we met so many like minded people who came forward to sign up with us for their search as we try to fill this gap. Working as friends and trusted partners to understand them them introduce them to like minded people . Our clientele is well educated, liberal minded and progressive thinking people who value compatibility in a marriage the most . These are the set of people we tried to target and that’s actually how it unfolded for us. We have a network of well educated, well established Indians all across the globe now !

Q.: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it??

Ans: Not having a concrete marketing strategy in place right at the start definitely was a drawback, we relied on personal references and wanted to work only through word of mouth. There have been few more mistakes initially but we kept improvising on our work and learning has been a continuous process.

Q.: How are you pricing the Product? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process.

Ans: Our pricing is premium. We handle our clients personally, have not built a team as we feel our USP is that we both personally curate matches for our clients. Secondly we target well educated and well established people , a premium fee helps us build a network of like minded and similar background people.

Q.: Please tell us about the investors (if any)

Ans: We don’t have any investor

Q.: Is there any interesting success story of your startup? If yes, please write about it. ?

Ans: We connect to many singles working overseas looking out to settle down. They may have limited Indians they can connect to where they live. Many have apprehensions about how a long distance relationship could work out for them. When we connected this guy from Delhi, constantly on the move for work , to a girl from Singapore , we were wondering if it could work out . But it was just one phone conversation that led to another and two months later we heard they were getting married!!! So I guess we just have to believe and give it a try!

Q.: Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture?

Ans: Over 500 clients all around the world. Over 800 introductions.

Q.: What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product/service leading to something bigger? If so, how?

Ans: We are developing an APP ‘ MatchMe Professional’ a matchmaking portal for professionals looking for professionally qualified partners. After working in this space for 4 years, talking to singles everyday we are understanding the existing gaps and are working on building a good blend of dating sites and existing matrimonial sites with ‘MatchMe Professional’ network!

Q.: Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? How do you differentiate yourself with them?

Ans: What differentiates MatchMe is the approach the founders bring in in the search process. The USP of our service is Mishi and Tania being personally involved with their clients. Hence taking anyone as our competition will be hard to specify as each person is unique and in our work our job is building relationships. We only take on clients who we can connect with in the first place.

Q.: What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months? Any other information you would like to share?

Ans: To rapidly expand our network and reach out to as many singles across the globe . We are specifically targeting opening our office in Bangalore, Singapore and Dubai in the next few months months.

Q.: What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?

Ans: We converted our passion into the profession. We just want to say that one must believe in their idea, work passionately towards it, be patient and it will definitely bring you the desired results.

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Thanks Tania. All the best!