Dating Indian Guys and Girls in Illinois

Illinois has many cities with large Indian American populations. While Chicago comes first to mind – with the third largest concentration of Indians in the U.S. other with more than ten percent of Indian origin residents are Hoffman Estates, Oakbrook and Schaumburg. So if you are located in the Lincoln State and wish to get to know Indian singles better, here are a few things to keep in mind.

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Explore the professional sector

A majority of Indians settled in Illinois are professionals, particularly prominent in the sciences, medicine, computer industry, and management. Among the main pillars of Chicago’s economy are financial and business services and in recent years, the presence of Indian origin professionals in these sectors have been growing. So if you are keen to socialize with Indian guys and girls, network with people in the financial or professional services. The central business district in downtown Chicago is where you will find most of the firms, convention centers and consultants’ offices of the city’s finance sector. The exclusive pubs and cafes across the Loop as well as on important locations like the Richmond Road, the Lakefront as well as along the Chicago River are some places where you can chat up a young attractive professional or a rising financier of Indian origin.

Check out Indian Neighborhoods

One of the best ways to get to singles from a particular social group is to frequent the places where they live. And Indians are anyway known to prefer living close to their families, even after they are adult, working and can afford a place of their own. The 1980 census recorded 33,541 Indians in the Chicago metropolitan region; in 1995, according to informal estimates, their number had grown to 80,000, scattered throughout the suburbs with concentrations in the western and northern suburbs. So if you have nothing else to do, take time to explore Devon Street in Chicago, near the northwestern suburbs where Indian restaurants proliferate, as do Indian grocery stores, boutiques, electronic stores, video and entertainment shops, and jewelry shops. Here, as elsewhere in the Indian diaspora, commercial Hindi films are extremely popular, and may well be the excuse that you can use to chat up the pretty girl at the store counter. The growing strength of Indians is indicated by the fact that in 1991, the 'Little India' stretch of Devon was also designated Gandhi Marg. other cities of Illinois like Oak Brook, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg also have sizeable Indian American communities. These are mainly white-collar suburbs where managers, professionals and sales and office workers like to settle. Like majority residents of these places, Indians living here also work in management occupations, healthcare, administrative support, and sales jobs. In recent decades though there has been a growing number of Indian Americans in blue collar jobs who are employed with gas stations, stores and taxi service.

Socialize with Indian associations

Like in other places, in Illinois too the Indian diaspora tries to do its best to keep their cultural and religious traditions alive. Thus Hindus in major cities like Chicago have their temples while Muslim of Indian origin pray at the mosques. The ethnic, linguistic, and cultural divisions that prevail in India have been carried over with Chicago-based organizations such as the Bengali Association, the Bihar Cultural Association, the Tamil Nadu Foundation, the Telugu Association, the Punjabi Cultural Society, the Maharashtra Mandal, and Gujarati associations. While you may not always qualify to join the avowedly religious associations, you may well tag along a friend or a co-worker to an event or celebration hosted by Indian cultural associations. In Chicago one of these is the Indian Classical Music Circle, which sponsors recitals by major Indian musicians. Besides there are the Chicago chapters of various professional organizations of Americans of Indian origin which offer a more open environment for people of different races to interact.

Sample Indian Fare

Frequenting Indian restaurants can not only help you appreciate some of the most exotic dishes in the world but work wonders for your love life too. You will get to meet Indian Americans enjoying their much-loved desi fare and who knows, may be hit off with an attractive single too. When in Chicago you can explore places like Essence of India, India Garden and Tiffin; in fact Chicago, Oakbrooks and Hoffman Estates in Illinois each has a place titled India House. Thumka Grill and Saffron are some of the dining places you can try at Hoffman Estates while for vegetarian fare you can head to Dakshin or Udipi Palace. Oak Brooks with its large Indian origin population again offers many eateries nearby where you can sample Indian fare and if lucky, make the acquaintance of an attractive guest as well – here some of the places you can check out are Kama Indian, Banda Nawaz, Desi Chillie and Viceroy of India.

Appreciate the culture

Chicago’s renowned program in South Asian studies has made Chicago one of the prime destinations for visiting Indian academics, intellectuals, and performing artists. Chicago’s Museum of Natural History was one of the first venues of Indian-themed events having hosted the Festival of India as early as 1985. The Art Institute of Chicago, the premier art museum in the city, organized a Guru Dutt retrospective in fall 2001, and in fall 2002 has, following a worldwide trend, turned its attention to classics of the commercial cinema. Also try and be a part of Indian festivals and holy days celebrated in the state which will throw you in proximity with lots of Indian guys and girls, all in a festive mood and open to socializing.   In most places, Hindus gather celebrate Diwali in the fall -- also called Festival of Lights -- and Holi in the spring. Chicago’s Hindus also commemorate secular American holidays and may even be found in the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of Hyde Park, celebrating Christmas with full vigor.

Go online

If however you are short on time, a great way to meet singles from Indian ethnic background would be to browse dating and social networking sites which cater to people from Illinois. In Chicago especially there are many such portals which connect singles from across professional and social backgrounds. Again meetup groups are a great idea if you wish to get to know Indian singles on a casual basis and then see where things go from there. The Chicago Indians Meetup Group is for anyone who wishes to meet and socialize with others who share an interest, a connection, or a passion with Indian culture which means unlike overtly Indian religious and linguistic associations, guys and girls of other races can comfortably sign up with these.