Most people are desperate to find ‘the one’, but this Indian man is quite the opposite. He wants date one woman… per day! He’s on a quest to go out on 365 dates this year, and has already been on 110 so far.
Although his goal might make him sound like a Casanova, Sunder Ramu’s intentions are actually quite different. It appears that he took up challenge simply as a way to meet more people. And he even has a rule – the women have to take him out and pay for the meal, or choose to cook it themselves. “I was getting too comfortable being alone, which scared me,” the fashion photographer from Chennai explained. “I decided that I was going to explore life and meet more and more people. Going to the club feels fake, and so I thought of going out on dates.”
In fact, most of the dates aren’t even romantic in nature. They’re more about having a good time and making new friends. Through his unique quest, he’s spent time with women of all ages and from different walks of life, and he’s had a wealth of experiences so far.
Like this one time, he went on a date with a 105-year-old woman from a small village, and drove out for ten hours just to meet her. He’s also been out with a local sweeper woman who collects trash from his building. The two of them shared a simple meal that she had cooked, on top of a sewage tank in the area.
“I do not have any agenda behind going out on these dates,” he said. “I am not looking for a romantic relationship. It is not a playboy thing. I think this is something that women understand and that is the reason they agree to be a part of it.” Interestingly, the ace photographer doesn’t carry his camera on dates. “I do not want the camera to be a distraction or interfere in our conversation,” he said.
As word of Sunder’s dates spread, lots of women have offered to take him out – even celebrities! He’s been on dates with South Indian movie star Shreya Sharan, and popular singer and RJ Suchitra Karthik Kumar. He was even invited to a home-cooked meal by a local politician’s wife.
The dates aren’t limited to going out to a restaurant or eating together. Sunder is willing to try new things, like going out for walks, shopping, or any other interesting activity. One woman took him jogging, and they gorged on street food on the way back. Another took him sailing. “One of the women who took me out on a date took me fishing in Chennai,” Sunder said.
As a part of the quest, Sunder has met women in three different cities – Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. While the idea is to go out on 365 dates this year, he says that it doesn’t have to strictly be one per day. At times he goes out on multiple dates a day, and there are days when he likes to give it a rest.
“There are days that I have too much work or when I am exhausted or I don’t want to meet anybody,” he explained. “On those days I do not keep any plans. I do not want the experience to be a forced one. But such days are rare.”
But there’s one thing he does without fail – at the end of each month, he visits a non-profit and sponsors a meal for its residents, which he shares along with them. And since men can’t take him out, they are welcome to contribute to his cause of sponsoring meals instead!
Once he’s done with 365 dates, Sunder plans to write a book or a screenplay based on his adventures.
Photos: Sunder Ramu
Source: The News Minute
