"They are not said to be husband and wife, who merely sit together. Rather they alone are called husband and wife, who have one soul in two bodies."

(Guru Amar Das, Pauri, pg. 788, Var Suhi)

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Anand Karaj
Marriage Advice
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Sleepless in Manhattan?

"It was a great experience. I never thought this many girls were looking for Gursikh boys." These were the words of a participant at the latest speed meeting event in New York City.

GurSikh Speed Meeting which hosted its fourth gathering is a version of the '8-minute dating' concept that traces its origins in the late nineties to a Jewish rabbi from Los Angeles who came up with a way for Jewish singles to meet each other in large cities where they were out-numbered by non-Jews.

This past Saturday night, I made my way to a restaurant in Manhattan which had shut its doors to the public to host the event. I wondered what inspired the organizers, a young couple to start the latest trend in the community. The young Singh had met his future wife to be five years ago while doing seva in New York City and within the first ten minutes knew he had struck a connection. Later they ventured to connect other singles.

The participants upon arrival completed a registration process and intermingled until most had arrived. Some of the participants, friends of mine were shocked to see me there. For the record I am happily married and was a guest of the organizers attending in a journalistic capacity. Being a Punjabi gathering the organizers had astutely planned ahead for late comers. With fifteen men and women in attendance the event started quietly as the organizers laid down the rules. The women would remain seated at the same tables. Each man spends ten minutes at a table and at the ring of the bell moves to the next table. Each person then has to decide which people they would like to meet again. The organizers facilitate an exchange of details only if there is a match.

As soon as the first bell rang there was a loud buzz of fifteen simultaneous conversations with Bollywood tunes in the background. This went on for three hours with a short snack intermission which turned into a well deserved restroom break as well. The participants mostly professionals and a few students had flown in from across Europe, Canada and the United States and more than a few admitted they were nervous. The word interesting is the way most initially described their ten minute encounters.

But what did interesting mean? Meeting fifteen strangers in a single night had its anxious and exciting moments. On some tables there was a curiosity of a future meeting, on some it was the longest ten minutes ever, some treaded into Punjabi vernacular and quickly retreated to English, on some European dialects were admired, on some, on some age difference seemed like a generational gap and on some ten minutes seemed a little too short.

I wondered if there was the proverbial ‘Click’ in any of the encounters. All of the participants placed a 'Yes' next to the names of a few contacts from the night. There were no instant connections but as one participant put it, "I met some great prospects and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot eligible bachelors, who were educated and well rounded."

In the end, everyone was grateful for the opportunity to meet other singles with similar backgrounds and applauded the effort it takes to organize such encounters. The organizers plan to take future events to Canada, Europe and other cities across the United States.

For anyone interested in future speed encounters visit http://www.sikhspeed.com

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