Both Swiped Right? Now Try These Offbeat First Date Ideas
To the point: If you are single, you’ve definitely been on at least one coffee date, if not 50. A platonic one-hour meeting to gauge potential marriage material. Delicately sipping cappuccinos both parties try hard to extract apparently valuable information -‘What do you do on weekends?’, ‘Do you cook?’, ‘Do you drink?’, ‘Do you smoke?’ While coffee shops do have their advantages (they are casual, allow for quick exits and provide an unlimited flow of caffeine and sugary treats to soothe frayed nerves), the pitfalls are as obvious. Which is why I recommend a few off-the-beaten-track first date ideas. You could try one or mix n match them, depending on your interests.
Walking Tours
As the name suggests these are (small) group tours of a historical or cultural site often undertaken on foot, with a guide. Unlike a café, here you can see your date engage with the world and the experiences around them. And given the non-interview set up, you can actually converse more freely, beyond the mundane demographics. Hate walking? Opt for an open deck bus tour — the last vestige of the double decker buses that plied across good ol’ Bombay.
Where: Fort heritage walk, Dhobi Ghat tour, Raj Bhavan tour, Chor Bazaar walk, food tasting tour, chai walk (oddly, I haven’t yet come across a coffee walk)
Get Your Game Face On
The number of gaming cafes popping up across the city is on the rise, which is great because nothing breaks ice faster than a board game.
Where: JamJar Diner, Teapot Cafe, Creeda, 70 Beans, Wok This Way, Pair a Dice CafeOver Scrabble, Poker, Taboo or Monopoly, you can catch your date in action, literally. Are they a sore loser? How well can they bluff? What’s their tell? Do they cheat? How competitive are they? Can they spell anything beyond four letter words? How good are they at math? (Usually evident when adding a Triple Letter score with a Double Word Score in Scrabble. How does their math matter? I’m not really sure; it’s just a titbit you can tuck away for later.)
Get Your Game Face On (Decaf version)
A taproom might not sound like the best idea for the first date given the erstwhile dating rules but the new breed of bars offer more than just a guzzle. Board games, foosball, a pool table and even game nights all make for a comfortable, relaxed catch up. Many are open through the day which means an afternoon date over a game of Jenga and beer is always an option. (If your date is a teetotaller, stick to the gaming cafes but carry a hip flask to make your cuppa Irish).
Where: Doolally, Hoppipola, The Irish House, TAP, Eddie’s Bistro, Monkey Bar
Sit down for some stand-up
This recommendation has invariably led to a divided house. While the Taciturn Daters (TDs) happily lap it up, vehemently denying they are taking the easy way out, the Classical Daters (CDs) are clearly not amused. Watching a comedian poke holes in all and sundry when it could have been them doing the same to their dates is an affront to their arranged-dating beliefs.
Both pose valid arguments — ‘You can gauge your date’s sense of humour’ say the TDs. ‘So the comedian is the only one talking on our first date?’ question the sceptical CDs.
In the spirit of democracy and the mystical power of humour to cure all (including bad dates), this stays.
Where: Canvas Laugh Club, Tuning Fork, Barking Deer Brew Pub, Jeff Goldberg Studio, BrewBot, The White Owl Brewery
Khushnuma Daruwala is the author of ’50 Cups Of Coffee’ — a rip roaring and charming account of dating in India. In the book, her protagonist, Dia, manoeuvres the minefield that is arranged dating, thus making Daruwala our guru on all things to do with the mind-boggling world of dating in the Maximum City.
Originally published at whatshot.in .
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