Remember DinnerClub?
I’m writing a book about it.
Knock knock, anybody here?
It’s been a loooooong time, I know.
I hope most of you receiving this email have already found love in some shape or form. So, I won’t be sad if you left swiped this email… a little bittersweet maybe?
Because running DinnerClub felt like directing Before Sunrise, except online, at scale and during apocalypse.
I hope you feel the same way.
Some of you may already read Shapely Gal (my main newsletter), but for those who don’t … I’m currently writing my first book! It’s about modern matchmaking; how caste, class, education and dating apps have reshaped romance in India (and beyond). It’ll hopefully be out next year.
Right now, I’m working on a chapter about pedigree-based filtering, or what I call “the new caste system.” I argue that filters on dating apps haven’t just helped us find the right person; they’ve flattened how we connect. We’ve turned love into logistics, romance into résumé scans.
That’s when I thought of DinnerClub, our little experiment in unfiltered, instinctive, serendipitous dating where you helped me test a hypothesis I didn’t even know I had.
So if you were part of that experiment, and you remember anything about your date, I’d love to hear from you. Even if you didn’t end up swiping right on them after, I like to believe it was one of the more memorable dates you’ve had in your life.
Also, since this list is mostly single folks, I want to share a small invitation.
I’ve started a small quiet community of readers who are getting early access to bits of the book like chapter drafts, deleted scenes, character sketches, cut jokes. But more than feedback, what I’m really looking for is feeling.
Because while I might write like an observer, noticing patterns, making sense of the market, what I want most is for this book to feel like it speaks for you. There are moments I genuinely don’t know how to describe what it’s like to be single and dating right now. And I find myself wishing, if only I had the right words to say it for you.
That’s where you come in.
When someone else puts your mess into words, it makes your own story easier to carry. That’s the kind of book I hope this becomes, and if you’d like to be part of shaping it, email me. My only “filter” is that you are a voracious reader in your 20s or 30s, single, and living the beautiful mess that is modern romance. Write me a line or two about why this speaks to you.
It’ll be low-pressure, early-access, and high on laughter and truth. I promise.
P.S. Just to be clear, this isn’t a dating group. There will be NO matchmaking, NO gender mixing, NO swipe vibes. Just stories, reflections and readers who’ve lived it.