If you have no interest in running, no time for padel or pickleball, and no talent for pottery, where exactly do you go to meet new people? I ask this sincerely—on my own behalf. Making friends as an adult has been its own sport (and not one I excel at). I’m an introvert in recovery, oscillating between long stretches holed up in my cat-ridden cave and the occasional social sprint—maybe two dazzlingly extroverted days per quarter, when I’m briefly reborn as a social butterfly.
Confession: I’ve even asked tarot readers if I’m destined to find new, steady friendships. But recently, Instagram—more prophetic than psychic these days—seemed to sense my midlife malaise. One sponsored ad began haunting me with uncanny precision: a carousel of grinning people, captioned with a clickbait dare: “Have dinner with strangers.” The app was called Timeleft.
A new report claims that solo dining is a sign of unhappiness; and even if I don’t see the correlation, it just seemed like a sign to go give the app a try. For the more outgoing, dining with strangers might be thrilling. For me, it felt like a high-stakes dare. But in a conscious bid to discomfort myself (the good kind), I clicked, downloaded, and subscribed to a one-month membership (₹1,099 a month; longer plans are also available) to dip my feet into this strange new world of food buddies. You can’t attend a dinner unless you’re a member. That’s the deal. Read writer Purva Mehra's take on the app here.
