When best friends Divya Singh and Anjum Ghai, both 25 and single, thought of starting a dating website, www.hitchh.com, whatever doubts they had vanished when they saw the lives of colleagues and friends in the same age group. “We see our single friends working from 8 to 8. There’s no opportunity to meet new people because they simply don’t have the time,” says Ghai.

So the two of them, both from financial backgrounds, decided to hold a live introductions platform for singles in Delhi, young people like themselves who are looking for love or simply to meet new, interesting, single people. At Hitchh’s first event, or rather launch party held in a farmhouse in Outer Delhi last week, 200 singletons showed up, despite the formidable Rs 1,600 registration fee. “The services offered by the website are absolutely free but for offline events, one has to pay,” says Singh.

The venue was done up in a romantic shade of pink — pink couches, ribbons and flowers. Interestingly, the event was called a Padlock Party, where girls wore locks around their wrists and the men had the keys, randomly assigned.

The men, mostly between the ages of 18 and 28, tried opening the locks on the wrists of different girls. “This is a way to break the ice, lose inhibitions and help strangers strike up a conversation,” explains Ghai.

Alcohol and starters were professionally catered and it looked like any glamorous party, except here the guests had a serious agenda. “It was a great way to meet like-minded people. Sometimes, it was flirty but never ugly,” says Neha Hasija, 24, one of the guests.

Hitchh offers relationship counseling, speed dating and blind dates as well as offline events that help people meet in a stress-free environment. “If we organise a blind date, we take care of the verification and try our very best to set up meetings between like-minded people,” says Singh.

People still can’t chat online on Hitchh since a part of the site is under construction, but everything will be in place by January. Meanwhile Singh and Ghai are planning singles events in cities like Chandigarh and Bangalore. They have some practical advice to give out to singletons: “If you feel absolutely nothing after a 20 minute conversation with a prospective date, don’t waste time. Move on, there’s somebody better out there.”