Algorithm on my plate

An app told me to dine with five strangers—so I did

- BY SHUBHANGI SHAH

Why am I doing this?" I remember asking myself, a knot tightening in my stomach as I arrived at a restaurant in Delhi's posh Greater Kailash. Despite being 30 minutes late, I was the first to arrive. Such Delhi behaviour, I thought. Or maybe a sign to back out? As I was about to, a co-diner arrived, followed by four more. And here I was, having dinner with complete strangers, set up by the algorithm of an app called Timeleft.

How did I get here?

It was courtesy one of those doom-scrolling sessions on Instagram when an ad popped up: "Have dinner with strangers." While the premise did not seem all that promising at first, the picture—of six smiling people looking like they were having the time of their lives—did the trick.

"The real distance between you and the people you don't know is a warm 'hello'. Yet it feels daunting to take that first step, especially in-person. This is what Timeleft is all about," it states on the website of the IRL (in-real-life) networking app, the brainchild of French entrepreneur Maxime Barbier.

Once you install the app, you need to fill out an extensive personality questionnaire. The questions range from the banal ("Do you consider yourself more of a smart or a funny person?") to the more intriguing ("If your life were a fashion statement, would it be: classic and timeless, or trendy and expressive?") There are also deeply personal ones about relationships and family.