In an interesting development, Sunder Ramu, a Chennai based man, wants to go on 365 dates, not for the reason you may think though. In the increasingly interconnected dating culture, men who date often are envied and women who do so are judged.
The Chennai based photographer, and actor wants to raise awareness against this stigma by going out on dates and writing about his perspectives on Facebook.
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Dating is a 6-letter word that comes with a slew of preconceived notions, judgments and generally gets a bad rep. Serial men daters are often envied by men and asked for tips, women are often judged for being immoral for doing the same.
To raise awareness on this issue and more such issues, Chennai based actor Sunder made an interesting decision a few years ago – going on 365 dates with a new woman each time – and sharing his perspective on equality, women’s rights and remove the stigma associated to the idea of dating.
So far, Sunder has gone to as many as 335 dates and is just short of 30 more women and 30 more dates.
Meet Sunder Ramu – The True Romantic
We do admit that the idea of a man going out on 365 dates does paint a rather colourful image of the person. But Sunder’s idea to do so was quite different.
Though in his BBC interview he claims that he’s a divorcee, he is still a romantic who’s not averse to romance. He claims that he’s “always looking for love”. But the idea to date 365 women was something bigger – it was to address the societal issues women from different backgrounds may face and to raise awareness on women’s rights.
What an idea, Sirji!
The idea struck to him in the aftermath of the Delhi gang-rape incident in 2012. The incident shook him to the core and made him contemplate why Indian women were treated so badly. In his interview with the BBC, he said that one often thinks of NGOs and government to take action, but he wanted to make difference on his own.
After a lot of contemplation, he started the 365 dates project on January 1, 2015.
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The Fascinating Rules to Date Sunder
If one would go to his Facebook page, where he has shared his experiences of every single date, one would also see the rules of the date.
And the rules are fairly simple – the women will need to ask him out, ask him to meet him at the place of their choice, and pay for their meal.
Interestingly, the money he would save on the meals would be used to buy food for charities.
Getting Perspectives from Nuns, Models, Teachers
A casual walk in the lane of his Facebook profile would tell a person the varied experienced he has had in the past few years. From dating political figures, models and actressess to teachers, activists to nuns, he has done it all.
After the project picked up heat, he was asked out by women not only from India, but from USA, Thailand, Spain and more.
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“Put Yourself in the Shoes of Other Gender”
In his interview, he shared how he came from a privileged background where women were treated with respect. However, when he stepped into the open wild world, he was made aware of the discrimination and deeply ingrained differences.
“By writing about my conversations with my dates, I was trying to tell people: put yourself in the shoes of the other gender and walk a bit, and you’ll understand their problems a bit more,” he added.
