With so many people out there celebrating Valentine’s Day, it can be a tough time for those who are single. 

I mean, of course, there are ones who don’t care about relationship stuff and that’s good for them. But many others do feel the lack of companionship in their lives. One such person is trying to solve this problem for himself, and for the women who might be interested in going out with him.

On rent.

Humans of Bombay

Yes, that’s the interesting part. So, here it goes.

A person named Shakul Gupta was tired of being rejected by girls over and over again. He never had a girlfriend and that made him sad.

I’ve never had a girlfriend in my life. I just want someone to say ‘yes’ to me, just once! If the word ‘rejection’ had a synonym, it’d be my name, ‘Shakul!’ It was sad watching my friends date and suddenly have to hang out by myself. I feel for those who’ve been single all their lives, how much can one love themselves?
Instagram/Shakul Gupta

So, he came up with an idea. He figured there must be women like him who also wanted companionship and hence, he started putting himself out there as ‘boyfriend on rent’.

For the past 3 years on Feb 14, I’ve been a ‘Boyfriend on Rent’. I put up a post online that reads, “I’m a generous and open-minded man. I can give you my shoulder to lean on or be your friend this V-Day”.
Instagram/Shakul Gupta

His idea is to just have a good time with the other person and for that, he is ready to do cutesy things like cooking for them, taking them out for drives, singing for them.

I can double up as your makeup practice model, or if you prefer being lazy, I could make you any kind of food while you relax.

Now, Shakul has been doing this for 3 years and in this time, he has met 45 women and he says the experience has been enriching overall. 

They talk to each other, go and do activities and many a time, the women open up and share their insecurities with him too. 

I once went on a date with a girl who cried and expressed her insecurities. “I feel bad knowing guys don’t ask me out because of my weight”. Another girl requested, “I’ve been having difficult days at work lately, could you please hug me?”.

And in the end, they both go to their houses but continue to remain friends. However, society, including Shakul’s own family, doesn’t view this as a good thing. People started trolling him, labeling him as a ‘gigolo’, but he remains resolute. 

My parents look at me as if they’ve raised me wrong; they say, “This is not part of Indian culture”. I don’t think people get why I do this; who wants to feel alone, when they have an option not to?

Shakul has put up a post for this year as well, and it has an interesting offer. You can get an iPhone if you tag 3 of your single friends and he finds ‘the one’ (win-win!).

And his complete journey, here.

We hope he finds what he is looking for soon.