Will Smith fans would remember the 2005 Hollywood comedy Hitch, in which the actor plays a professional ‘date doctor’ – one who coaches other young men in the art of charming women they like, and sustaining relationships. It’s been 13 years since, and it finally looks like the Tinder era has brought out India’s very own version of the date doctor.
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Chennai: From operating your Tinder profile and chatting with potential matches on your behalf, to updating ‘woke’ status updates and tweets from your FB and Twitter accounts, these millennials have discovered a new way to make quick bucks on the side, and in the process, help someone find love.
What’s truly surprising is that Chennai has quite a few of these enterprising professionals, who juggle full-time day jobs all week, and moonlight as these relationship teachers on the weekend. “When there are tags such as ‘life coach’ and ‘happiness expert’ on the market, why not date doctors too? However, we understand the negative connotations that come with such a tag, which is why most of us can be found only to be referrals, and that too after verifying a potential client’s background,” says M Arjun, who is a content writer at a tech firm in the city.
But isn’t it wrong to impersonate a person and fool someone else while at it, all in the name of romance?
“Haven’t you ever helped a friend to woo a girl he likes, by texting her instead of him? That’s exactly what we are doing. We sit with the client, talk to him or her in detail to get an idea of their personality, and then add our touch to their social media accounts for a short while. Every weekend, we meet in person or Skype for an hour or so, apart from a few calls/ texts during the week. When there are experts for nutrition and fitness, dating could certainly use a hand,” says another date doctor Vishwanath, who works at a social media agency in Chennai.
Though a little expensive, it certainly looks like these customers aren’t feeling any crisis of conscience. K Ramcharan, who works at an MNC, says he always felt uncomfortable about his approach to women. “When a friend first told me about this date doctor business, I thought it was a scam. Later I realised that I could use their help.
In just two months, I was able to impress a girl I liked and now we are dating.”