"The way I was Caught"

 "The Great Arike Adventure (Or How I Accidentally Became My Friends Entertainment)"

I never imagined that one day I would be writing an essay about a dating app, but life has a strange way of giving us stories that we never expect. Sometimes we go searching for something meaningful and come back with nothing but a memory that makes us laugh every single time we think about it. This is one of those stories.

When I first created my profile on a matrimony website, I was honestly nervous. I had never done anything like that before, and I didn’t know what to expect. Like everyone else, I had my own imagination. I thought maybe I would receive a few requests, have some good conversations, and perhaps somewhere along the way I would meet someone who would eventually become a part of my life. I was hopeful, excited, and probably a little overconfident. But after a month, reality gently reminded me that finding the right person isn’t as simple as creating a profile and waiting. That little confidence I had at the beginning slowly disappeared. Things were much harder than I had imagined. Some profiles looked promising, some conversations never started, and some ended before they even had a chance to become interesting. That’s when I realised that whether it is love or marriage, nothing comes with an express delivery option.

Around that time, I kept seeing advertisements for an app called Arike. No matter where I opened my phone—Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube—the advertisements seemed to be waiting for me. What really caught my attention was the tagline: “Where Malayalees Date.” I have to admit, it was clever marketing. Every time I read those words, I found myself thinking, “Maybe this is worth trying.” Then came the success stories. Video after video appeared on my screen with couples saying they met through Arike and eventually got married. Every story added a little more hope to my already confused mind. I remember smiling to myself and saying, “Okay… okay… let’s give this a try.”So I downloaded the app. Creating the profile was easy enough. Upload a few photographs, write a short introduction, fill in a few details about yourself, and suddenly you’re standing in front of thousands of strangers hoping someone notices you. Then came the famous swipe. I swiped through profile after profile whenever I had a little free time. Waiting for food? Swipe. Tea break? Swipe. Before going to sleep? Swipe. Watching television? Swipe. At one point, I think my thumb was working harder than the rest of my body. If there had been an Olympic event for swiping, I honestly believe I would have qualified for the finals.

 

The funniest part was that many of the profiles looked familiar. Every few minutes, I would stop and think, “Wait a second… haven’t I already seen this person?” Then it hit me. Half the profiles I had already seen on the matrimony website were also on Arike. I couldn’t help but laugh. It almost felt like everyone had secretly decided that if one platform didn’t work, they might as well try another. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one trying every possible route to find my future partner. Days passed, and I continued swiping with great dedication. I probably liked more profiles than I could remember. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm wasn’t exactly being returned. The silence from the app became louder every day. No exciting notifications. No conversations. No matches. Just me, my phone, and the occasional hope that maybe tomorrow would be different. Every time I opened the app, I almost expected it to surprise me, but it remained loyal to disappointment. Still, hope is a funny thing. Even when logic tells us to stop expecting something, hope quietly whispers, “Just one more day.”

 

Then one evening, I came across a profile that caught my attention. She lived only a few miles away from me, and after reading through her profile, I thought, “She seems nice.” Without overthinking it too much, I pressed the like button. It wasn’t a dramatic moment. I didn’t imagine wedding bells or romantic background music. I simply liked the profile, closed the app, and carried on with my day. Little did I know that my biggest problem wasn’t whether she would like me back. My biggest problem was my friends. The next day, one of my close friends happened to meet this very same girl. Somehow, during their conversation, the topic of Arike came up. She casually mentioned that she receives plenty of likes on the app. Naturally, my friend became curious and asked to see her profile. Now, out of the hundreds of people who had probably liked her profile, destiny decided that my face deserved a special appearance. As my friend scrolled through the list, there I was—smiling confidently from my profile picture, completely unaware that my undercover mission had just ended. Most normal friends would quietly laugh to themselves and move on. Mine didn’t. Within seconds, he had taken a screenshot of my profile and proudly shared it in our WhatsApp group with a caption that basically announced to the entire world, “Look who we found!” My phone started buzzing immediately. One notification became five. Five became twenty. Before I even opened the chat, I already knew something terrible—and hilarious—had happened.

The messages were exactly what you would expect from a group of close friends. There were laughing emojis, jokes, dramatic congratulations, and enough teasing to last an entire year. Suddenly, everyone became a relationship expert. Some asked whether wedding invitations were ready. Others wanted to know my “strategy.” One friend behaved as though he had uncovered classified government documents. Meanwhile, I sat there staring at my phone thinking, “Well… this wasn’t part of my plan.”

 

For a brief second, I considered pretending it wasn’t me. Maybe someone had created a fake profile. Maybe artificial intelligence had stolen my face. Maybe aliens were responsible. Unfortunately, the evidence was too convincing. It was clearly me. My photographs. My profile. My like. So I did the only sensible thing I could do. I replied, “Sorry, guys… It’s me.” Sometimes acceptance is easier than defence.

 Looking back now, I laugh every single time I remember that moment. At first, I felt embarrassed, but after a while, I asked myself a simple question. Why was I embarrassed? I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I wasn’t hiding from the police. I wasn’t committing a crime. I was simply doing what thousands of single people around the world do every day—trying to meet someone. The only difference was that my friends discovered my dating profile before I managed to discover a match. That incident also made me realise something interesting about modern relationships. Years ago, people worried about their neighbours finding out they were meeting someone. Today, our biggest fear is that our own friends will discover our dating profile before we even get our first conversation. Technology has changed almost everything. Love stories still exist, but now they’re often accompanied by screenshots, memes, and WhatsApp groups that never let you forget a single embarrassing moment.

 I still don’t know whether Arike will eventually help me find the right person. Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t. Maybe my future wife is already on the app. Maybe she deleted it yesterday. Maybe she’s reading this essay and laughing as much as my friends did. Life has a funny way of surprising us, and I’ve learned not to predict how these stories will end. But if there’s one thing this experience taught me, it’s that the journey towards finding love doesn’t always begin with romance. Sometimes it begins with awkward moments, unexpected laughter, and friends who refuse to let you live in peace. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I may not have found the love story I was hoping for, but I certainly found a story worth telling. And sometimes, that’s just as beautiful. After all, I went searching for the better one … but what I found first was laughter.

Joice Joy💓