Ithaca
Ithaca Is Gorges. Your Dating Life Doesn't Have to Be Lonely.
Cornell's South Asian student community is one of the strongest in the Ivy League, with SASA and Naacho driving campus culture
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Ithaca is gorges, Ithaca is isolated, and Ithaca is full of brilliant South Asian students and researchers who have approximately zero dating options outside of Cornell's campus. The desi organizations at Cornell are strong. SASA, Naacho, the grad student networks. But when it comes to actually meeting someone romantically? You've already been through the entire pool by the end of your first semester.
The format from New York works especially well in isolated college towns: real contestants go on dates in front of a live audience, the room reacts, and afterward everyone mingles. In Ithaca, where the captive audience problem works in our favor, this is the event that fills the gap between swiping alone in your apartment and sitting through another academic social.
The thing about Ithaca is that the captive audience problem works in our favor. There's nowhere else to be. When something good comes to town, people show up. The South Asian community at Cornell is tight, engaged, and starving for social events that feel like actual fun and not a department obligation.
We're eyeing Ithaca for a future show. The logistics of getting there are part of the charm. When we come, it'll be worth the drive from Syracuse or Binghamton too. Get on the waitlist, or apply to be a contestant. Ithaca is about to be gorges in a whole new way.
Cornell's desi community dates inside a very small snow globe
Cornell brings thousands of South Asian students to a town of thirty thousand people on a hill above a lake. The community is vibrant on paper: SASA is one of the strongest South Asian student associations in the Ivy League and Naacho sells out its shows. But the dating reality is a snow globe. Everyone has context on everyone, the app pool exhausts itself by October and the nearest fresh scene is a four hour bus.
A live dating show works with the snow globe instead of against it: yes everyone will know, and that is what makes the room electric.
What a Garam Masala night in Ithaca looks like
Two Cornellians who have somehow never crossed paths, an AEM senior and an engineering PhD maybe, on a first date on stage while a room full of mutuals loses its collective mind. Live votes, comedian hosts and a mixer that carries into Collegetown afterward because the town is one hill and everyone is walking the same direction.
Ithaca is on the map when the waitlist says so. , or apply to be a contestant and give the gorge jokes a rest for one night.
No Ithaca dates are live yet. The show tours nationally and sells out every stop. Watch full episodes while we make our way to you!
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Questions About Ithaca Shows
When is Garam Masala Dating coming to Ithaca?
No date confirmed yet. We are exploring Ithaca as a tour stop given Cornell's strong South Asian community. .
Will people come from Syracuse or Binghamton?
Yes. When we come to Ithaca, the show will draw from the broader central New York and Southern Tier region.
Can I apply to be a contestant?
Yes. Apply now. Applications stay active for 12 months. Ithaca applicants will be prioritized when we confirm a date.
Is there Indian speed dating in Ithaca?
Ithaca has SASA formals and grad mixers, which are community events wearing dating event costumes. A live show with real blind dates on stage is a different species, and in a town this size it becomes the semester's event instantly.
Where do South Asian singles at Cornell actually meet?
Collegetown parties, department clusters and a dating app radius that includes more waterfalls than people. Cornell's desi community is huge and the town is tiny. The mismatch is the whole problem and the whole opportunity.
Is it worth it if I am a PhD student who never leaves the lab?
Especially then. The show hands you 90 minutes of shared social material and a mixer where the openers write themselves. It is the most efficient social event per hour you will attend this year, and we know how much that framing appeals to you.
From the Journal
Also coming to: Syracuse , Rochester , Buffalo , State College , Albany