JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY NOW I GET AN INVITE TO JOIN A SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK. 2011 seems to be the year of social media, and the proliferation of social networks is truly mindboggling. I have read on Smedio that it took radio 38 years to attract its first 50 million users, and TV 13 years to build up an audience of the same size. Facebook, on the other hand, reached that critical mass in just six months. The king or queen of the social media, Facebook now has 34 million users in India, and that number is growing all the time. It is almost like a little Internet in itself, with its own economy and ecosystem. In some places, you are not a real person anymore unless you have a Facebook page. It is certainly a great place to go if you want to make new friends, consolidate your existing links, or look up old relationships. If you have a smartphone you should have a look at Foursquare, which allows you to find likeminded people in realspace (for example, a cafe, a train), realtime (ie now), all around you. do whatever the both of you want to do. It is the closest thing to a universal Gaydar that I have yet encountered, a Gaydar for straights (if only I had the guts to use it that way!) More on Foursquare later, because I am sure it is a revolution in the making! Anyway, today I received two invitations, from two different people, to join them on Google +. For those who don't know, Google + is Google's answer to Facebook, and a somewhat belated effort to enter the social media race. Given Facebook's huge lead and user base, some might say this is a futile venture. Nonetheless, Google has spent a lot of time and resources investigating the science of friendship and relationships. One of its innovations is the idea of "circles", and the recognition that not all of your "friends" are in fact your friends. On Google +, you can sort your contacts into groups or circles with labels like "relations", "work colleagues", and of course "close friends". That is a good step forward, because I personally found it difficult publishing updates on Facebook which appealed to all of my readers. On Google +, your old girlfriends never need to meet your new girlfriends. And your boss doesn't have to know you are out drinking the night before a big meeting or the start of an important project! If you would like an invitation to join, send me an email or coderot@gmail.com. I am waiting to hear from you! Monday, August 8, 2011 WAYN: A New Place to Make Friends I got an email from a guy called Poolidurai Poolipandi today inviting me to join him on WAYN, a social media site. WAYN stands for "Where Are You Now?", and (at last count) claims to have about 18 million members. Specifically, it promotes itself as a place where you can "share your Travel and Lifestyle Interests and meet other people who have things in common with you." As I am ever on the look out for new social media sites, I took Poolidurai Poolipandi up on his offer. As I joined up, it was revealed that I already had nine friends on WAYN... including a certain U.Bhandari, a Nepali I used to work with in Tokyo, and a girl I went to college with in Australia. It is a small world after all, and it is funny how your contacts can follow you through your life now (around the world), courtesy of information technology! A commentator more on their game than me has remarked: "Chennai dating girls are excellent to date with.They are very soft but very intelligent. They look very pretty and stylish. They love candle light dinners with their lovers. They are true lovers and give unforgettable company to their dates." Of course, Chennai can be a tough place to go on a date, what with all the aunties and police cruising for (unmarried) couples. Sex and the City it ain't, according to what I have heard at least. Sometimes even admiring the sunset with your dear on the beach can land you in trouble with the law. I can only imagine what dating is like out in the hinterlands of Tamil Nadu and out in the remote parts of Sri Lanka. However, I do know that the Internet is huge in India (and Sri Lanka) and rolling out further every day; at any time there are millions of Tamils online, hooking up. If you want to hook up with Tamils anywhere in the world online away from the leers and prying eyes of the public space, this webpage can help you. If you do want to hook up offline, however, this guide will try to help as well. And at least your antics won't make it to the video markets of Myanmar or Thailand! m e e t i n g - t a m i l - g i r l s - o n l i n e THERE ARE PERHAPS HUNDREDS OF CHATROOMS ONLINE TARGETTED AT TAMILS, MOST OF THEM WITH FAR MORE MEN ONLINE THAN WOMEN. They come and go every day, and some of them are better than others. Today (being June 11, 2009) I found a new website and portal for global Tamils which looked particularly enticing -- it is Meet Tamil Dot Com. It might look enticing, but to get to the meat you have to navigate a series of annoying, intrusive pop up ads. I went there with the intention of finding any Tamil girls from Qatar, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, or the UAE. As usual I found plenty of men, particularly from the UAE. Go to the shoutbox and you will see what I mean. Nive says: "I am gal chat with me." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adi Dravidar Matrimony: Exclusive Matrimony Service for the Adi Dravidar Community Around the World Adi Dravidar refers to the Dalits community of Tamil Nadu and beyond, which numbers nearly 10 million souls according to the Joshua Project. "We Adidravidars are the original natives or indigenous people of Dravida land," writes one A.S Jeevarathinam in an article on the site. "Our forefathers were proud inhabitants of our country from the beginning of time. Our community name was coined by Tamil social activist Periyar Ramasami. Our castes include Paraiyar, Chakkili or Arunthathiyar, most of whom live in south India and speak one of the south Indian languages..." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chat Chennai: Find a mate today! This site came online on July 28, 2004. Says the blurb on the frontpage: "The one place to meet like-minded chennaites! Find new chat friends for your messenger Create your profile, and upload ur photo... bcoz the whole of chennai meets HERE!" At last count (November 2008) there were 559 Chennai gals and 12,346 Chennai guys registered (not including members in other parts of the world.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chat Friends Chennai: Chat Online With Friends in India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dating Direct: UK's Number One Site for Singles! I know this is not strictly speaking Indian or Tamil. But, nonetheless, many Tamils live in the United Kingdom, alongside many Gujaratis, Pakistanis, and other subContinentals! You can access DatingDirect anywhere (docomo), anytime (itsudemo) using your mobile. According to The Hindu news service: "About a decade ago, at the age of 33, when Darren Richards thought that the Internet could be the perfect way of meeting other singletons in his area, in the UK, he was in for a disappointment. His search for an online agency to join led him only to companies in the US. 'Even worse, none of the sites seemed to take the idea of meeting a new partner online seriously, encouraging members to use silly nicknames such as Sexy Babe and Hot Pants,' recounts Rachel Bridge in one of the chapters included in How I Made It: 40 successful entrepreneurs reveal all (www.vivagroupindia.com). "A frustrated Richards thought that he couldn't be the only person who wanted to use the Internet to find a serious date. And that resulted in a blueprint for a British online dating service. "The first few website developers he approached told him it could not be done, but he eventually found someone able and willing to do the job. Richards gave the designer a 20 per cent stake in the company in return for creating a new interactive website, and it was launched in 1999 at a cost of 2,500 pounds. Within three months it had 40,000 members..." Now there are more than five million. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dating Today: Chennai Girls, Chennai Women. "Hi dudes," says Renasex007, 21-years-old, from Chennai. She is one of many Chennai women you can meet on this dating site. Also available at the moment (April 2009) include Drusilla82, who says: "Nunca Teolvidare." Keythaaa (age 21) says: "I am a woman, 21 years old, seeking a man from 20 till 40." Representing the men, Beatheheat (34) says: "To put it short humour is my middle name and i love interactive women. Fast machines and dancing is my life. I love going to night clubs and dancing latin american styles..." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kaadal: Meet New Tamil Friends. There are plenty of Tamils here looking for friendship, 2101 online the last time I dropped by (then again, maybe "friendship" is just a euphemism for "love"? Tamils love their euphemisms, it seems to me. Maybe it comes from living in a conservative society?) One recent poster, thanam444 from Malaysia, divorced, seemed to confirm my suspicions (that, on this site, friendship equals love): "yes im (l)ooking for fr(i)en(d)ship which can give me moral support." She added: "i looking for good heart , caring , lovable person,who can understand me. im not ask anything from u . only a ship with full of love frendship." If you are sailing on a ship full of love friendship, perhaps you will reach your harbour at Kaadal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . My Tamil Girl: Matrimonial and Dating Site for the Tamil Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . One Love Net: Free Singles Profiles in Chennai. Spruiks the website: "Find Singles for Free @ OneLoveNet.com, 100% Free Dating Site & Marchmaking Service. Soon, we will list other 100% free dating sites for you. Stay connected! "Being a quickly growing free online dating personals website and service, OneLoveNet.com provides new personal ads every day for men, women, boys & girls..." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rishtenaateindia: Tamil Dating. Says the website: "The best online dating site for tamil singles to meet their Soulmate! Sign up today for totally free membership We have in our database thousands of dating profiles with photo from Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore,Karur, Dindigul, Nilgiris, Perambalur, Dharmapuri, Erode, Kanchipuram, Kanyakumari, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Teni, Thanjavur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Namakal, Thiruvarur, Tiruchchirappalli, Tiruvannamalai, Tuticorin, Vellore, Viluppuram, Virudunagar, Ariyalur and other regions of Tamilnadu and NRI Single tamil girls and boys. " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sri Lanka Dating: Sri Lanka Matrimonials. At last count there were 50 male and 25 female members registered. The site uses Instant Messenger so you can communicate in realtime with other online members. There are also a couple of articles which might be of interest such as this advice: "A lot of people are still virgins when it comes to kissing. A lot of people can kiss but don't know how to kiss properly. Here are the basics to kissing. Once you have mastered kissing then you can try other styles and techniques of kissing..." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamil Brides and Grooms: Tamil Brides and Grooms. Browse for your life partner... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamil Girls Hot: Tamil Girls Hot (Facebook). This is a good Facebook page, currently liked by 25,000 Facebookers, and constantly updated with photos of gorgeous Tamil women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamil Brides: Tamil Matrimonials. Here you can search potential brides based on age, height, caste (Brahmin - Iyer, Brahmin - Iyenger, Pillai, etc), sub-caste (Brihatcharan, Brahacharana, Thenkalai, Vadakalai, etc), star (Poosam, Thiruvathirai, Sadhayam, Thiruvonam, etc), home city (Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Singapore, etc), and so on (educational level, career, etc.) Registration is free and takes just a few minutes of your time. Tamil Brides is a part of Tamil Matrimony which is part of Bharat Matriomony Dot Com. At the mother site, you can find partners from all over the Indian world: in particular Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalee, Marathi, Marwadi, Oriya, Parsi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Telugu and Urdu brides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamil Matrimony Sinhala Matrimony. The website asks: "Are you single? Would you like to mingle with your perfect partner of your life time?? "Sinhala Matrimony brings the perfect match of yours closer to you by searching all the profiles. It is absolutely FREE to join, so why wait? "Sri Lanka Matrimony Features:- "1) Matrimonial services offered through this web will be totally free forever "2) Add Your Profile Or Personal Details for FREE "3) Add Your Photos for FREE" http://en.gimeney.net/personals/India/Tamil%20Nadu/Chennai/213682.cdiml: Click here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tamil Wire: Tamil Friends Network. This popular site features chatrooms, forums, news and movies and plenty more. Last time I visited (December 2012) the site had 4497 likes on Facebook, which says something. For lovers of celebrities and actresses, sign up for the mailing list on the gallery page. Recently updated galleries include Bhumika Chawla, Avantika Sharma, and Dipa Shah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viva Street: Tamil Friends Network. Select a state on the map to find your date. They are all there, from Jammu & Kashmir to Nagaland, Punjab to Andhra Pradesh. In the Chennai "sex dating" department, some five to 10 personals are added every day. "handsome male from kolkata like 2 meet couples nd fat ass/big hips ladies of any age from any where who like 2 fulfill hidden dezires as mutually we can do any thing d way we like 2 make dreams cum 2ru," read one recent post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WoWTamil Friends Network: Audio/Video Chat for Tamil Community. The last time I visited this portal there were six guests online. If you join up, you can invite your friends to join you using MSN, Yahoo! and GMail, and you can sign in using your Facebook profile. As well as audio and video chat, Wow features forums, blogs and a cinema stocked with old and new Tamil movies. There are also ringtones, Tamil karaoke, and so on. m e e t i n g - t a m i l - g i r l s - o f f l i n e WHERE CAN YOU FREAK OUT IN CHENNAI (OR FOR THAT MATTER, SINGAPORE OR TAMIL KWA ZULU). Stickman, that famous expat blogger of the South-East Asian scene, quotes a reader named Harry who says: "For the travellers that prefer the company of dusky maidens, the Indian community of Malaysia is around 10% of the population. Indian girls have a 'Western' facial appearance but I think the allure of darker skin coupled with nice big eyes, long black hair and a wide grin serves to speed up the heartbeat. I can understand why Western men become attracted to Indian girls as they tend to have an innocent and sweet playful approach to conversation. The key to forming a lasting relationship with an Indian girl lies in the level of her usually strict family upbringing and religious background. As in Thailand, an Indian family is very close knit, and a western boyfriend will eventually be accepted into that family providing his intentions appear to be honourable. It's not an easy task to break down this cultural barrier. Particularly so if the girl's family are Hindu in the strictest sense as it's the parents responsibility to arrange marriages without courtship! However, it's my experience that the Indian people of Malaysia are the friendliest of all ethnic groups and they are certainly easy to talk to and reason with..." It is worth noting that Harry has a wife of Malaysian Indian extraction, so he knows what he is talking about. If you are down in Comibatore, here is a place you might like to check out: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gandhipuram Bus Stand. g a y - & - l e s b i a n - s u p p o r t INDIA'S GAY AND LESBIAN PEOPLE ARE COMING OUT OF THE SHADOWS IN INCREASING NUMBERS. Last year (2008) Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore held their first ever gay pride parades, with about 900 people marching in each city while a largely supportive crowd looked on. I got this from the Globe and Mail newspaper from Toronto, Canada. The Globe and Mail went on to report: "A new lesbian support hot-line opened by a Chennai gay group received 45 calls the first day they turned on their phone, a few months back -- although they were not meant to open for another 10 days. Many were from young women who had recently found a name for their gay identity, but were being forced into marriages by their parents..." t a m i l - w e d d i n g - r e s o u r c e s IN INDIA BOTH THE GROOM AND BRIDE'S FAMILY WILL CONSULT AN ASTROLOGER TO CHECK THE HOROSCOPE MATCHING. There are ten types of matchings astrologers check to see the marriage compatibility. They are: Dhinam: This indicate the luck, health and longevity of partners. Ganam: This indicates the peace of mind in their life. Mahendran: This indicate level of wealth especially money to be generated by them in future. Sthree Dhirgam: This indicates all kinds of wealth to be acquired in their life. Yoni: This indicates the intimacy between the partners in their private life. Raasi: This indicates the birth (progeny) and luck to have children. Raasi Adhipathi: This indicates more generations in their life. Vashiyam: This indicate the intimacy level between the partners in general life and misunderstanding between them. Rajju: This indicates the longevity of partners and losing partner within short time. Vedhai: This indicates elimination of sorrow/bad patch in life. Here are some Tamil wedding resources: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brides of Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka's first and only bridal and wedding resource. Here is everything you could need here in planning and executing your Sri Lankan wedding. You can find: love poems to include in your wedding stationery; "all you need to know" about the bridal shower; recipes from the kitchen to help you look good at the ceremony. These recipes include a lemon facial toner, a foaming hot chocolate milk bath, a strawberry foot exfoliant and a handcream treatment employing grated beeswax, jojoba oil and aloe vera. If you need drummers and dancers for your wedding in Sri Lanka, you can find some here. You can also find help in booking hotels, finding wedding photographers, arranging entertainment and of course ordering wedding cakes! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wed In Sri Lanka: The Online Wedding Planner. This site is intended for Sri Lankans abroad and at home, and for non-Sri Lankans who wish to get married in Sri Lanka. If you are looking for a wedding partner in Sri Lanka, you can even search for one here. The site can provide services such as hotel receptions, entertainment (music, band, DJ), dressing and dress making, help with the Poruwa ceremony, and caters for Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim weddings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t a m i l - j o k e s FROM TAMIL JOKES ON TWITTER: "லன்டன் உன்னை யாரவது லூசுன்னு சொன்னா கவலை படாதே! வருத்த படாதே! ஃபீல் பண்ணாதே! உங்களுக்கு எப்படி தெரியும்ன்னு கேள்..." chikka --- Send SMS messages to your pals from the web. Dosti Forever: Fropper Relationships. Claims to have four million members from all over India. THIS WEBSITE IS A PLACE WHERE TAMILS CAN COME TOGETHER, MEET, CHAT, MAKE FRIENDS, GET INTO FIGHTS, WATCH MOVIE OR EVEN GO ON VIRTUAL DATES. Contact the author Rob Sullivan at coderot@gmail.com, or phone (0422) 204477 (AUSTRALIA). Copyright February 2013.