Meet The Patels

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Meet the Patels is an hour and twenty eight minute documentary following the life of Ravi Patel as he goes on an expedition to find love. However, ‘love’ for Ravi is not ordinary in the slightest way. Finding love in Ravi Patel’s case is an extraordinary adventure around the world to find his Indian match. Imagine going on many dates set up by your parents and Indian Marital websites in hopes of not just finding a relationship, but a marriage. A commitment you are expected to make for the sake of your culture and family.

Watching this documentary was a roller coaster of emotions for myself. At times I was excited for Ravi before his countless dates, but I was also exhausted at how much time and money was put forth to find someone that met the criteria for his culture. Finding a spouse seemed a lot like trying to acquire a job. You’d fill out at applications and send them out, as well as receive them. Most of it wasn’t based off of falling in love, a lot of it was based off how well two people might fit together. It made me feel thankful that, for myself, trying to become married was never gonna be about my culture and whether or not I was a little chubby. My parents are never going to make me a dating resume, in hopes that men could get past my love for crocheting and slightly crooked teeth. I found myself wanting there to be romance involved for Ravi’s sake, but I had to …show more content…

Indian dating was orderly and the documentary Meet the Patels featured many successful couples that were happy after following the Indian dating culture. For Ravi’s parents, they had exactly 10 minutes of talking before it was decided that they were going to be married and have a future together. It’s mind blowing that it worked that well for them, but I believe that in America and in today’s pop culture - Ten minutes with a person won’t cut it. There are too many secrets and too much about a person that’s left to

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