Yours Virtually…

Can you really know what farming is like by merely playing FarmVille on FB?

Or what it really feels like to be in involved in the ‘underworld’ – risking your lives, committing crimes day and night - by playing Mafia Wars?

Or building and managing a city playing CityVille?

To run a cafe with a little of Cafe World, perhaps?

An emphatic NO, is it not?

Then WHY, for the love of God, do we have THIS now?!! (More on that.)

At a time and age where people can’t make up their minds after being in a “serious relationship” for years together, or even living-in, here comes an online service that helps men get a “taste of what it’s like to be married.”

What are we women supposed to feel? Flattered? Nu-uh!

I felt disgusted, insulted, terrified, sick…and amused, all in one go. Preposterous!

The whole concept is based on flimsy presumptions and assumptions.

The Stereotyping – So according to them women can be easily classified into: 

• The bubbly/chatterbox kind – Kareena in Jab We Met?
• The ambitious/career-woman kind – Preity Zinta in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna?
• Dominating/Has-a-mind-of-her-own kind – Preity Zinta in Kal Ho Naa Ho?
• Homely/Traditional (euphemism for “submissive”, might I add) kind – Most of the roles played by actresses in the yesteryears?

What a simplistic way of looking at people, especially women! No woman fits into just one category, though one quality maybe predominant. Who said that a homely woman has no aspirations and can’t run a small business from home? Or that an ambitious lady will neglect all the needs of her family? People are like colours – various hues, various shades. It’s as difficult as trying to distinguish a blue shade as Cerulean or Bondi Blue! (In fact, didn’t all the leading ladies in the above movies depict it themselves?)

The Phone Calls – That’s it?! That’s all that this ‘marriage’ has got to offer?? Lame calls reminding you that it’s time for you to wake up, have breakfast, dress, have lunch, shop, … …  I’m sure that men who’ve had girlfriends (or even good friends who are girls...in fact, mothers are good enough!) require no further ‘experience’.  “…pampered with mushy phone calls from the missus every day”, indeed! Reminders on your cellphone not good enough??

No, this service is not made available for the women, as yet. Wonder what that'll be like. Chulbul Pandey? Raj Malhotra?  

So, will this info also be necessary in a profile at these sites? Or will there be options? For instance,

You would best describe yourself as:  

• Milli Chulbuli 
• Bijli Thakur 
• Ritu Gharwali  
• Shalini Sheherwaali

Wasn’t the fact that potential brides/grooms scour the internet to track someone’s ‘online life’ bad enough? Now we’ve got ‘characters’ that represent our personalities (which are terrible stereotypes, which is not saying much!)?

And much worse was this other link that the news item carried, about single men going to a motel for a ‘virtual date’. Reminded me of one of those video-game-like thing my cousins had years ago. Just that it was a ‘pet’. You had to ‘feed’ it, ‘bathe’ it, put it to ‘sleep’, ‘pet’ it, etc. Otherwise it would ‘die’. Something along those lines was a better option!

Another of those dazzling marketing gimmicks? Something to keep BharatMatrimony high on top-of-mind awareness or brand recall when several other regional players are mushrooming online (and offline)?

You know what? I really wished I had (only) seen this as part of Facebook - one of those new fancy games that Zynga developed. Date and see if it would end in an "I do" kinds. LoveVille, perhaps (since Splitsvilla is already taken)? Is Zynga listening?