Finding a long term companion is not easy these days and it is even more difficult online, say many prospective brides and grooms who reveal quirky and bizarre incidents…

Matrimonial portals and online dating sites are no longer about finding just a soulmate. They have become platforms for many other reasons other than just finding your dream guy or girl. Countless men and women registering on matrimonial websites feel that they have been registered on them for years but all they find are guys and girls who are either looking for a sleep over, fling or just a good evening out. We bring you instances of some of these men and women who reveal their experiences…

* Sushil Handa displays a picture of him wearing dark glasses, cap and trekking gear on a matrimonial website. He goes on a trip to Mumbai from Bangalore and hopes that he will find someone to spend a good evening from the matrimonial website he is registered on. So he sends messages to girls on the website and asks them out saying that he is interested in marriage and wants to meet for coffee. Instead of asking the usual questions, he asks, “Are you living alone? Do you live in a rented flat? Where do you live? Can I come over and have a cup of coffee? I believe in things happening fast. Whether it is sex, relationships or marriage! The girl in question was freaked out and had to immediately decline his interests but she reveals without disclosing her identity that such men do exist on matrimonial websites.

* A 40 year old Ritika Sharma poses pretty pictures on a matrimonial website and though she mentions that she is looking for a man, she reveals in a conversation with a guy that she is okay looking for a relationship with a woman.

-A smart, suave looking Vishal Mehta, working in a high flying corporate job in US comes to India looking for a bride and has arranged to meet prospective brides from a matrimonial website. He meets 3-4 women in a day. He has lunch with one, dinner with the next and sleeps with the last one he goes out on the date. And when the other girl who he had lunch with, asks, why he slept with a girl on a first date, he just dismisses it as: “If she is available and ready to have fun, why not.” Finally he settles for a girl he meets on the last day before leaving for the US.

-Misha Trivedi, a fashion designer connects with a man on a marriage portal and exchanges cheesy emails and notes over phone. In a span of getting to know each other over email and telephone, she comes up with an idea of sending him a packet that contains gold jewellery and asks him to pay for it for the time being as she is short of finance. She promises to return the money but the guy is too smart to get into the trap.

-There are guys who will chat with you on the first day and ask you to go on a drive. Countless men and women who send messages and interests to meet and get things started on the right note but fail to go on because they are either too busy or just not interested or wait for women to make a move.

-According to many men and women who are trying to find a soulmate online, they feel that men or women don’t respond, the identities are not true and they might be even married and just wanting to have a good time on a marriage website.

-There are twice divorced men aged 50 looking for women who are around 25 and should not be divorced and they should be a ‘virgin’.

-There are single men who are in their late 40s or 30s living in the US or UK, do not eat potatoes or onions and would want a companion who will also abstain from eating potatoes or onions.

-There are single women who look out for men not living with their parents or in a joint family, have 3-4 maids and will marry on the condition that she is allowed to work in a night shift job.

-There are instances of men asking women to travel to their home town, pay for their bills and then forgetting about the meeting when they don’t find the prospects exciting.

-Men who offer to go Dutch on a first date, women who wear revealing dresses on the first date and asking for an open marriage and men who feel that women should be ready to come to a discotheque or a movie on the first date.