Relationships
Raj has not been involved in any lasting romantic relationship, mostly due to his inability to speak to women. However, he is much more successful in casual sex than the more sexually aggressive Howard. He once dated Lalita Gupta, a childhood friend, in an arrangement made by his parents. With Raj able to speak to her only under the influence of alcohol, the date went badly, and Lalita left the drunk and obnoxious Raj to have dinner with Sheldon.
When Raj was invited to People magazine's reception, he became drunk again and presented Penny to his parents (via webcam) as his girlfriend. Later, he had to apologize to Penny for his behavior. Although he tried apologizing through a written note, Penny forced him to utter a barely audible "sorry".
Raj also sought to date Sheldon's attractive twin sister, Missy. To do so, he took an experimental drug to correct his anxiety disorder. He was the only one out of himself, Howard and Leonard that Missy wanted to go out with. However, he was unable to ask her out as the effect of the medication wore off.
When Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj were on a train to San Francisco, the latter three tried talking to Summer Glau. After drinking what he thought was a beer, Raj talked to Summer, and because he was flirty and smooth, and she took a liking to him. When Howard pointed out that his beer was non-alcoholic, Raj stopped in the middle of his conversation, and rushed away from Summer without saying any more.
Raj revealed that he once had a girlfriend after Leonard claimed that the two of them were the only ones without them. She has never appeared in the show, but he claims that she is deaf, so his inability to speak with women isn't an issue. Raj has a crush on Howard's girlfriend, Bernadette, and is visibly unhappy when she accepts Howard's marriage proposal.
Despite both being ostensibly heterosexual, Raj and Howard often act like they are in a homosexual relationship. This was described by Leonard's mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, as an "ersatz homosexual marriage". Even Raj's parents are aware of this, as Raj's mother once noted "the closest thing we have to a daughter-in-law is that Jewish boy Howard!", which Raj quickly denied. Despite the denials, Raj often takes up the stereotypically "female" role in arguments with Howard, once expressing his displeasure at Howard constantly ditching him to chase women. Raj recounts a dream where he and Howard both had mansions with a secret tunnel that connected Howard's "front yard" to his "back yard". He uses a female avatar in World of Warcraft. In season four he claims to be a metrosexual.
In the 2011 season 4 finale, Penny and Raj get drunk and, despite agreeing to remain good friends, end up in bed together. The next morning, both agree to pretend it never happened, but they are caught by Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard as they try to leave, causing Penny to think about moving back to Nebraska. In the opening episode of season 5, Raj reveals to Penny that they did not have sex; instead he ejaculated prematurely and they fell asleep. Penny promised not to tell the guys, although subsequently she sometimes calls him "Quickdraw".
In season 5, Raj buys a new iPhone and quickly develops feelings for the female computerized personal assistant, Siri.
Later in season 5, Penny thought she found the perfect match for Raj by hooking him up with a woman who was deaf. However, it turns out she only liked Raj for his money and left him when she found out his parents would cut his financial ties if they continued to see each other.
Finally, in despair, Raj asked his parents to find him a potential bride for an arranged marriage. Raj hit it off with his parents' first selection, but discovered that the woman was only looking for a husband to convince her family that she was not a lesbian. She assumed Raj was gay and that they would have a lavender marriage, an idea Raj considered as a viable option to lifelong bachelorhood, until Howard and Bernadette convince him otherwise.
Out of their concern for his loneliness, Howard and Bernadette give him a pet dog. Happy with his new companion, Cinnamon (a female Yorkshire Terrier), Raj proceeded to see if the pet would fit in his man-purse. This leads Bernadette to question Raj's sexuality. Ironically, in the episode "The Thespian Catalyst", Raj fantasizes various scenarios in which he is placed in situations where he must fulfill a promise to Howard to please Bernadette sexually, including Howard being killed in an accident, he must go to Israel for two years, leaving Bernadette behind, etc. When he finishes the fantasies, he concludes he is "definitely not gay."
At Howard's bachelor party, a drunk Raj tells all the guests about how Howard lost his virginity to his second cousin, his Las Vegas prostitute experience, and their three-some with a pudgy Sailor Moon girl at ComicCon which Wil Wheaton uploads to the Internet. Bernadette is furious after seeing the video.
In the season six episode, "The Tangible Affection Proof", Raj and his friend, comic book store owner Stuart, put together a party at the store for lonely people on Valentine's Day. After giving a speech about how one can't define themselves by being in a relationship, he is approached by a girl (Kate Micucci). Raj and the girl leave to get a cup of coffee, with Raj declaring "later losers!", hinting at Raj finally having a relationship. In "The Monster Isolation" Lucy flees during their coffee date sending Raj into depression and isolation in his apartment. Later Lucy goes to his apartment to apologize and tells him that she has problems around new people. Raj describes his own psychological problem and they agree to a formal date.
In the following episode, "The Contractual Obligation Implementation", he takes Lucy out for a first date to a library where they text each other instead of talking, helping her deal with her social anxiety and him with his selective mutism. They continue to date and by "The Love Spell Potential" they do kiss, though it is through a chain-link fence. However, in the season 6 finale "The Bon Voyage Reaction," Lucy feels too pressured by Raj to meet his friends, and a dinner between Lucy, Raj, and Amy doesn't go well. Raj apologizes for his behavior and asks Lucy to come to Leonard's goodbye party before his departure for the North Sea on Professor Stephen Hawking's expedition. However, Lucy texts him at the party saying she won't be there and doesn't want to see him again. The next day, Penny goes to comfort a heartbroken Raj, who thinks he is completely unlovable. Penny tells him it was just the booze talking, but Raj hadn't had a drink since the night before. He was finally cured of his selective mutism. In fact, he was so cured of it, he couldn't stop talking about what went wrong in his relationship with Lucy, which ironically compelled Penny, Bernadette, and Amy to start drinking to tolerate his non-stop talking.
Read more about this topic: Rajesh Koothrappali