Desperation drove Jyoti Borge (name changed) to attempt suicide. The 37-year-old woman from Solapur got infected with the HIV virus three years ago, thanks to her adulterous husband. Bhavna was tempted to file for divorce as soon as she found out about her infection, but the fear of not being able to find a spouse again held her back in her failed marriage. It was an advertisement of a matrimonial portal which she read in a local Marathi daily that gave her a dose of courage. The website, www.positivesaathi.com, claimed to find matrimonial matches for HIV infected persons. The Internet illiterate Bhavna wrote to the website’s office asking them to find her a mate.

Three months after Bhavna’s profile was uploaded, Mohan Patekar (name changed), an HIV positive man employed with a motor training institute in Solapur, expressed interest in Jyoti’s profile. The site arranged a meeting of their families who agreed to the match. Jyoti has since filed for divorce, after which she immediately plans to wed Mohan.

Positivesaathi.com, which went live six months ago, has 115 members—95 males, 20 females. The site has even fixed cross-continental matches. A Hyderabadi IT professional working at an MNC in Singapore and a British divorcee of Telugu origin (she contracted the virus from her ex-husband after three months of marriage) have decided to tie the knot, after a couple of e-mail exchanges and telephonic conversations.

Anil Kumar Valiv, a Maharshtra government officer who single-handedly founded the site with just Rs 30,000, has dedicated the venture to an HIV positive bachelor friend who passed away last year. Valiv says, “Though NGOs and some marriage bureaus do hold swayamvars for HIV infected people, they have poor attendance as those who are infected fear coming out in the open. A website provides the required anonymity.”

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