In matters of romance, India’s millennial men are far more conservative than women.
They are more opposed to public displays of affection (PDA), and yet have a stronger preference for getting hitched in a typical big fat Indian wedding ceremony, according to data from OkCupid, the New York-based online dating platform.
OkCupid, which claims to have over a million app downloads globally every week, algorithmically matches users based on their responses to various questions. In September, OkCupid localised its questions for Indian users. The data is based on the replies to these questions.
Close to half of all women users in India say an ideal wedding ceremony should last one day.
While that is the norm in the West, Indian weddings generally tend to be more drawn-out affairs. The ongoing wedding season in the country has seen a number of lavish, high-profile couples tying the knot—Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, Bollywood-to-Hollywood crossover star Priyanka Chopra and American pop artist Nick Jonas, and most recently, Isha Ambani, the daughter of India’s richest businessman, and Anand Piramal, heir to another business empire.
Kissing and hugging in public is taboo in India. And while it is not illegal, PDA is often clubbed under Indian laws against obscenity. Most recently, in the infamous Operation Majnu, “anti-Romeo” police squads publicly humiliated young men and women in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh for merely spending time together in parks and shopping malls.
Here are some other interesting trends on Indian millennials that OKCupid data threw up:
Early birds: At about 62%, Indian men are more likely to identify as early risers as compared to women.
Goa vibes: When asked for their favourite destination for a short vacation, both men and women chose the sunny beaches of Goa over the snow-clad peaks of Leh.