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"It's kind of simple. The water withdrawal for human use increased tremendously at the same time as there was an extended drought," Ali Mirchi, an expert at Oklahoma State University, told BBC Future Planet last year, calling the drought the "straw that broke the camel's back".

Mirchi, which means “spice” in multiple South Asian languages, launched in 2020 in Los Angeles.

Even among younger generations, the culture remains “deeply rooted” and an affinity to be with one another persists, he said, and an app like Mirchi can facilitate that process.

The dating app Mirchi says it has 70,000 active monthly users, and Ali Tehranian, one of the app’s co-founders, said it aims to add a “new flavor” to the South Asian dating landscape.

The dating app Mirchi presents another possibility: “Auntie made me sign up.”