Journal
Garam Masala Dating
Essays on desi dating, the live show, and what we've learned from watching it all unfold on stage.
May 21, 2026
When Indian Matchmaking Meets Stand-Up Comedy
Indian Matchmaking ran three seasons on Netflix and generated more group chat activity than any South Asian-adjacent content in the streaming era. It also raised a question nobody on the show was asking: what if the matchmaking was live, the dates were on stage, and 250 strangers got to watch in real time?
May 20, 2026
The Rise of South Asian Comedy in America
Something shifted in American comedy about ten years ago, and South Asian voices were a big part of what shifted it. The scene looks genuinely different now, more cities, more formats, more willingness to be specific, and understanding how that happened makes the current moment easier to read.
May 19, 2026
Stop Waiting for Indian Love Is Blind, Join a Real Desi Dating Show
Every few months someone posts a thread asking when Netflix is going to do an Indian Love Is Blind, and every few months the thread gets 400 replies and nothing happens. Here is a thought: stop waiting for a TV show that may never come and show up to the real thing that already exists.
May 18, 2026
Indian Comedy Shows in NYC: The Complete Guide for 2026
New York has a real South Asian comedy scene in 2026, and it is nothing like the one your parents accidentally ended up at because they thought it was a Diwali potluck. Here is every Indian comedy show worth knowing about, and one that is unlike anything else in the city.
May 17, 2026
The Brown Tax in Dating: What It Is and Why It Matters
The brown tax is the invisible surcharge you pay in dating for being South Asian in spaces that weren't built with you in mind. It's the unsolicited curry jokes, the 'you're so exotic' comments, the assumption that your family is either overbearing or a punchline. It's real, it's tiring, and it's worth naming.
May 16, 2026
NRI Dating: The Unique Challenges of Finding Love Abroad
Being an NRI means you left India with one identity and built a second one abroad, and now you're trying to find a partner who can make sense of both, without a manual, without a matchmaker who gets it, and often without your family in the same time zone.
May 15, 2026
Queer and Desi: Navigating Dating When Culture Says No
Queer desis are doing something genuinely hard: building a dating life that honors who they are when they're often the only person in the room who needs to honor two things simultaneously. This is about how to do it without disappearing.
May 14, 2026
Indian Dating After Divorce: Starting Over Without the Stigma
Divorce in a desi family doesn't just end a marriage, it resets your position in the community, triggers unsolicited advice from everyone who knew your ex, and starts a clock you didn't ask to be measured against. Dating after all of that requires a specific kind of courage.
May 13, 2026
Indian and Single After 30: A Guide for Late Bloomers Who Aren't Actually Late
Everyone at Diwali wants to know why you're still single. The aunties have graduated from hints to direct interrogation. Your parents have started cc'ing you on matrimony profiles you didn't ask for. You are thirty-something, Indian, and allegedly behind schedule. You are not behind schedule.
May 12, 2026
Dating as a First-Gen Indian American: Two Worlds, One Heart
First-gen Indian American dating means you're always translating, between what your parents want, what your American self wants, and what you actually need. Here's how to stop translating and start finding the right person.
May 11, 2026
The Indian Tech Bro's Guide to Dating in Silicon Valley
You've optimized your entire life for performance metrics, and then you showed up to a first date and treated it like a system design interview. That's the problem. Let's talk about it.
May 10, 2026
Third Culture Kid Dating: When You Don't Fit Any Box
You grew up between worlds, too Indian at school, too American at home, and now dating feels like the universe's cruelest joke. Third culture kid dating has its own physics, and nobody handed you the syllabus.
May 9, 2026
Situationships in Desi Culture: Why We Keep Getting Stuck
Desi situationships are real and they have their own specific flavor, shaped by family dynamics, secrecy, and the cultural awkwardness of defining things. Let's name it.
May 8, 2026
Semi-Arranged Marriage: The Modern Middle Ground Nobody Talks About
Semi-arranged marriage is the model most modern South Asians actually use, and almost nobody talks about it honestly. Here's the real breakdown.
May 7, 2026
Brown Guy Dating: Why It's Harder and What to Do About It
Brown guys face specific dating challenges that nobody talks about directly. This is the honest conversation about what those challenges actually are.
May 6, 2026
Brown Girl Dating: The Unspoken Rules Nobody Talks About
There's a whole set of unspoken rules that shape how brown girls date, most of which were never actually discussed, just absorbed. Let's talk about them.
May 5, 2026
Dating Outside Your Culture as a South Asian: An Honest Guide
Dating outside your culture as a South Asian is more common than ever, and still more complicated than it looks from the outside. Here's the real guide.
May 4, 2026
Rishta Culture Decoded: What Millennials Need to Know
Rishta culture has a whole set of unwritten rules that everyone seems to know except the person currently going through it. Here is the actual decoder.
May 3, 2026
The Aunty Survival Guide: What to Say When They Ask About Marriage
The aunty marriage question is coming. It always comes. Here is the survival guide you need for every family gathering from now until you are successfully married off.
May 2, 2026
15 Desi Dating Problems Only Brown People Understand
Some dating problems are universal. These fifteen are distinctly, specifically, painfully desi. You know every single one of them.
May 1, 2026
The Complete Guide to Indian Dating Culture in America
Indian dating culture in America lives in the gap between what your family expects and what your actual life looks like. Here's the map for that territory.
April 30, 2026
Modern Arranged Marriage: How It Actually Works in 2026
Modern arranged marriage has been thoroughly misrepresented, by Netflix, by aunties, and by people who've never actually been through one. Here's the real version.
April 29, 2026
Indian and Single at 30? You're Not Behind, You're Right on Time
If you're Indian and single at 30, you have heard approximately 4,000 opinions about this. Here's the only one that matters: you're fine.
April 28, 2026
Desi Red Flags vs Green Flags: The Ultimate Dating Checklist
Dating as a desi means reading signals that have an extra cultural layer. Some things that look fine on the surface are disaster in disguise, and vice versa.
April 27, 2026
Dating on an H-1B: Romance When Your Visa Status Is Complicated
Dating on an H-1B means every relationship question comes with a bonus immigration question. It's exhausting but navigable, here's how.
April 26, 2026
The ABCD vs FOB Dating Divide and What Actually Bridges It
The ABCD vs FOB divide in desi dating is one of those things everyone experiences and almost nobody talks about directly. Here's the honest version.
April 25, 2026
How to Tell Your Indian Parents About Your Partner: A Step-by-Step Guide
There is no perfect script for telling your Indian parents about a partner, but there is a strategy, and most people skip all of it. Let's fix that.
April 24, 2026
Why Dating Apps Don’t Work for South Asians (And What to Do Instead)
Dating apps don’t fail South Asian singles by accident. There are structural reasons the experience is worse for us, and understanding them is the first step to getting off the hamster wheel.
April 23, 2026
Dating Apps for Brown People: What Actually Works in 2026
Brown people on dating apps deal with problems the apps weren’t designed to solve. Here’s an honest guide to what actually works in 2026, from someone who has watched this play out live.
April 22, 2026
Muzz Alternative: Finding South Asian Love Beyond the Apps
Muzz is the biggest Muslim dating app in the world, but it’s not the right fit for everyone. Here’s what South Asian Muslim singles are using instead — and why IRL is making a comeback.
April 21, 2026
The Best Indian Dating Apps Ranked by Someone Who’s Tried Them All
I’ve run the #1 live South Asian dating show for four years and talked to hundreds of contestants about what’s working. Here’s the honest ranking of Indian dating apps in 2026.
April 20, 2026
Why Hinge Doesn’t Work for Most Indians (And What Does)
Hinge is the biggest dating app in America and Indians use it — but the success rate for South Asian users is worse than the platform average. Here’s why.
April 19, 2026
Is Dil Mil Worth It? An Honest Review for Desi Singles
Dil Mil is the first app most South Asian singles try. Whether it’s worth your time depends on where you live, what you’re looking for, and how much patience you have.
April 18, 2026
Best Dil Mil Alternatives for South Asian Singles in 2026
Dil Mil is the best-known South Asian dating app, but it’s not the only option — and for a lot of people, it’s not even the best one. Here’s what else is out there.
April 17, 2026
Tired of Dating Apps? Why Desi Singles Are Choosing IRL Events
Dating app fatigue is real, and South Asian singles are feeling it harder than most. Here’s why the swipe-and-hope model was never built for us — and what’s actually working.
April 16, 2026
Indian Matchmaking, Hinge, and a Live Comedy Show: What 4 Years of Running One Taught Me About How Desis Actually Date
South Asian dating in 2026 looks nothing like your parents’ version and nothing like Netflix’s version either. It’s messier, funnier, and more honest than both.
April 15, 2026
The Best Things to Do in NYC If You’re Single and Bored of Bars
You’ve done the bar thing. You’ve done the app thing. You’ve stood in a loud room pretending to enjoy a conversation you couldn’t hear. NYC has better options for single people.
April 14, 2026
How to Get Cast on a Live Dating Show (What We’re Actually Looking For)
You apply at garammasaladating.com/apply. We read every single application. Most of them are bad. Here’s how to not be one of those.
April 13, 2026
The Realest Way to Meet Desi Singles in NYC (That Isn’t an App)
You meet desi singles in NYC by getting off the apps and into a room where people actually came to connect. I run that room every week.
April 12, 2026
What Actually Happens at a Live Comedy Dating Show (From the Person Running It)
The #1 live comedy dating show puts real singles on blind dates in front of a live audience. No script. No safety net. I run one every week, and here’s what actually goes down.
April 11, 2026
The Only Live Desi Dating Show in NYC (And What Actually Happens There)
Garam Masala Dating is the #1 weekly live desi dating show in New York City. Real singles go on blind dates on stage in front of 250 people at a Manhattan comedy club.
April 10, 2026
South Asian Singles Events in NYC: What’s Actually Worth Going To
Yes, there are South Asian singles events in NYC. And the options have gotten significantly better in the last few years.
April 10, 2026
The Situationship Conversion Playbook
Yes, this is toxic. No, I don't care. A 7-step playbook for converting your situationship, ending with the one plot twist nobody sees coming.
April 9, 2026
Desi Dating Show vs. Dating Apps: What 4 Years of Running One Taught Me
The #1 live desi dating show puts two people in front of a crowd and asks them to be real. Dating apps let you curate a version of yourself from behind a screen.
April 8, 2026
What We Learned From 100 Desi Blind Dates
We've watched a lot of first dates. Not through an app, not on a reality show set. Live, on stage, in front of a couple hundred people who have opinions and aren't shy about sharing them.
April 7, 2026
How to Prepare for a Live Matchmaking Show (Without Psyching Yourself Out)
So you applied, you got picked, and now you’re going to go on a blind date in front of 250 strangers. Good.
April 3, 2026
Why “Going With the Flow” is Ruining Your Dating Life
Stop pretending you're okay with a situationship. Here's how to date with intention and filter out time-wasters.
April 2, 2026
How to Find Someone Before Your Parents Arrange Marry You Off
The clock is ticking and the biodatas are piling up. A survival guide to taking control of your own timeline.
April 1, 2026
How to Find Love as a Desi in New York
The apps are exhausting, the aunties are hovering, and the city is massive. Here is how to actually meet people.