The guests are 25- to 40-year-old singles who’ve signed up to take a chance on love on a matchmaking vacation organised by Capture a Trip. Picture this: A cosy bonfire in the mountains of Jibhi, Himachal Pradesh. A group of men and women all dressed up in glittering saris and kurtas. There’s a cocktail-sangeet night, a mehendi and baraat spread across three days and four nights. Except there’s no wedding. It’s not quite Love Island. There are no cameras. But there are plenty of opportunities to get to know someone: On a trek to the local fort, on a dedicate-a-song-to-your-crush session, while playing rapid-fire games with your match, and dancing to Bollywood songs. Even if you return unlucky in love, you’ll have had a little break.
For a generation struggling to find love, the elaborate set-up makes sense. Young people, after all, are hoping for meet-cutes in grocery stores, cafés, gym raves and bars. So why not holidays? Singles’ cruises have been around since the 1990s. A pretend destination wedding isn’t so farfetched. Does it really lead to Do Not Disturb? Or is it a holiday from hell? It depends on how much you believe in love. The vibe is more chill than horny. “He wasn’t just looking out for me, he was looking out for everyone. But he noticed when I was tired and brought me water, asked if I wanted anything to eat, carried my bag and held my hand on the tricky parts of the trek. They started dating soon after and have been together for three months. With some activities, the conflict is built in. But matchmaking trips are more work than a one-off singles’ night. There’s a series of social media checks, those who sign up must declare in writing that they are single, and organisers are extra vigilant about those who misbehave, and come on too strong on a trip. He was sent home immediately.
It happened for Raj and Simran in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), to Celine and Jesse in Before Sunrise (1995) and to Liz and Felipe in Eat Pray Love (2010). Tinder even introduced Passport Mode in 2015, letting users change their virtual location and match with people in cities they’re visiting. A 28-year-old chartered accountant from Mumbai says he signed up for Trip Paglu’s matchmaking holiday to Jibhi in May, where he found himself drawn to a woman in the group. Yadav says their vetting process includes a 20-minute conversation with a participant, to gauge their personality.
Both say they share an interest in food and travel, but she, a mechanical engineer from Delhi, says she fell for him on a particularly tough trek. “I liked how thoughtful he was,” she says. Trekking and canyoning is “where you see a completely different side of a person: How they behave under stress, how they respond to others, how supportive they are,” says Narayanan. A man on Yadav’s trip “tried to be over-friendly with women, making them uncomfortable,” he says.
