Friendly Match

How Dev and Jacintha met ...

ON several occasions, Jacintha's former colleague-friend had promised to introduce her to his guy pal. Her friend had a feeling that since both had Chinese-Indian blood, they would get along well. But every time the day arrived, the mystery man would either be working late or out of town. However, the day finally came when Dev, then 29, met Jacintha, also 29. When the two hit it off, their friend was over the moon that his first matchmaking attempt was a success.

But Dev was somewhat slow to initiate things. After the first introduction, it was a month before the two of them met again at a group outing. This time, Dev remembered to take down Jacintha's number before leaving. The next six months served as a trial period for both to test their feelings for each other. The duo preferred group dates to twosome outings, doing the usual – movies, clubs, lunch and dinner. Dev, says: “This way, it’s more casual and you don’t feel the pressure.” While the couple’s friends provided a shield if anything were to go wrong, they were also a catalyst to a blooming romance. As one of Jacintha’s criteria for her partner was to have friends she could get along with, going on group dates gave her a chance to assess his buddies.

By the third month, Jacintha decided that Dev was what she wanted – a humorous, independent guy with a good, stable job but she wanted Dev to make the first move. Jacintha doesn’t believe in the perfect match. She says: “For a match to be perfect, they say the husband has to be deaf to his wife’s nagging and the wife blind to his faults. I didn’t want to set too-high standards. It’s more interesting to have two different characters for whom marriage is part of working out each other’s flaws.”

Dev adds: “You can always find someone. But if you’re not willing to accept the person’s flaws and make it work, you’ll never find the right person.”

Dev liked Jacintha’s easy-going and down-to-earth manner and once everything was ‘set, match, go’, Dev took Jacintha home to meet his parents. He casually mentioned to his mother that he was bringing a friend over which got his mother all excited. Jacintha was officially introduced to Dev’s family and relatives and Dev’s mother took to Jacintha immediately.

For Dev, the ordeal was easier as Jacintha’s father was a man of few words.

The couple waited three years before tying the knot two months ago. They didn’t want to jump straight into marriage and Jacintha was doing a part-time course then and wanted stability before settling down.

Now that the newlyweds have found each other, their matchmaker friend is trying to get Dev to return the favour by introducing him to some young, eligible women.

The Clove, STAR - October '05