South Asian Culture and Dating: I’m surrounded by Doctors!

This article is brought to you by TwoMangoes .  A cool new online dating site for South Asians…because matrimonial sites just don’t cut it anymore!

I was recently reminded of some very good advice that one of my teachers in high school had given me. She herself being a teacher was married to a pilot (and not another fellow teacher), which she believed was one of the reasons she had such a successful marriage. She mentioned that each night after a long day at work, her husband and her would always share stories about their day with each other but not to the level where it was all work all the time. However, she knew of some teachers who were married to fellow teachers and they had a tendency to take their work home with him (figuratively and literally), never allowing for an escape from their careers and jobs. The conversations were all the same and neither person had a chance to learn something new or interesting about another industry / profession.

Reflecting on this point, we see that there are many young professional singles out there that are very focused and dedicated to their careers. Whether it be doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers (insert chosen professional career here), due to the path we have chosen we tend to be surrounded by people of the similar profession. Take the case of your average doctor. You spend years going through medical school (where you form lifelong friendships and relationships), then another few years in residency (where again, you build friendships with people you spend many hours and late nights working alongside), and then finally as a practicing doctor (with very little social life and/or free time your first few years).

So, in the odd chance that you DON’T want to marry or even date another doctor, where do you find this special someone? Not at the bars (that you never have time to go to). Not at the gym (where you go to escape your busy life and just want some quiet time to yourself). Not at the grocery store (let’s face it, when’s the last time you had time to spend an hour going through the aisles of a grocery store, checking to see if the melons were ripe?).

So, what does one do in this case? In your everyday life you are surrounded by people of the same profession as you, one that you don’t want. So Mr.Doctor, where do you find that Mrs.Not-Doctor?

The answer: the world of online dating! It’s conducive to those busy schedules and late nights (or all nights in some cases) and allows people to search for other interesting people (and not just other people exactly like us). After all, it’s nice to have stuff in common with that special someone but most of us aren’t exactly looking for a male/female version of ourselves (Remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dated the female version of himself? BORING!)