Those apprehensive about how their soulmate could turn out to be have some respite in the form of Web avatars that promises to give men a virtual taste of how their spouse will be in actuality. A campaign by BharatMatrimony.com titled, Biwi Ho Toh Aisi (BHTA), targets unmarried men in search of their perfect soulmate and gives them a chance to “interact” with characters that resemble real-life women.
On their website men can select their “virtual wife” by choosing unique characters and style of speaking which is supposed to give the user an actual feel of being married. How it can help in serious matchmaking remains to be seen, but it promises to bring humour and comic relief to routine and mundane daily habits with its reminder services. Devinath Tripathi, marketing professional, says, “It’s funny the way women of marriageable age are categorised into four types. It may seem very interesting and tempting to boys of a certain ‘curious’ age, the rest will have a good laugh.”
Upon subscribing to the services, one receives reminders for meals and gets gossip and romantic chit chat, about which Nishi Kant, creative director of Webchutney, says, “One of the nice things about being married is having someone to help you keep a track of the important stuff in your life and that’s what we wanted to demonstrate — in a fun way that men could easily relate to — through the reminder service.” Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of BharatMatrimony, says, “It offers individuals a flavour of married life while allowing them to relax from their busy work schedule.”
Expressing his views on training with a virtual spouse, Ramit Rath, a happily married IT entrepreneur, avers, “It’s to be taken with a pinch of salt, the experience of marriage can only be experienced hands-on. No matter how dynamic it may be or how closely virtual may resemble real-life, but it will always remain virtual.”