In a recent episode of the podcast If Books Could Kill, the hosts read out the Bumble profile of a 50-year-old gay man. It stated: “Not interested in over 50 or anyone with depression, insomnia or anxiety. I like my high IQ and earning a good salary at what I do, so if you don’t, then we’re not a match. I seek to build a life.” The hosts were trying to illustrate something: how particular people can be on dating apps. And the older you get, the more exacting the criteria; and the harder it is to meet them.
Increasingly, Indians in their 30s to 50s are turning to apps such as Bumble, Hinge, Tinder and others to meet new people. There are many reasons for this: for some, it’s hard to meet another single in their crowd of already married acquaintances; for others, such platforms provide a sense of anonymity that is comforting in a society that’s not so accepting of older people dating.
For Mumbai-based Namrta Sharma, 37, and Vinay Shinde, 43, Bumble was a godsend. Sharma still remembers the first time she saw Shinde’s profile: it was headlined by a black and white picture of him at home in a ganji, with messy hair and zero effort. “Compared to youngsters, who have [filter-perfect] photos, this was raw,” she recalls. Of course, it helped that he was a dad of two. As a newly-divorced mum, this appealed to Sharma.
