I'm going to be working on opening an office for my company in Bangalore, India thsi year, and will have to spend some extended time there.

a) Is there a gay life in Bangalore?
b) Is it safe to be out there?

As a straight woman who has been to India numerous times, I saw many young men holding hands or with their arms around each other as they walked in public. It didn't seem to be a gay thing, just a friendly gesture. The women in the family with whom we stayed would take my hand and I didn't feel at all strange because it seemed to be an accepted part of the culture. I found the Indians to be very respectful of foreigners.

I really think it is going to depend on who you are with. My suggestion is to be discrete and use your judgment. Indians who have been educated and worked in the US may have different attitudes than those who have remained in India. Gay life is still fairly unacknowleged in India. It is not expressly illegal, but Indian law derives from British law and includes the same sections of penal code that were previously used against homosexuals in Britain.

The first thing you will notice about india is all of the guys walking around holding hands. This is a cultural thing and has nothing to do with being gay.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by robb:
I'm going to be working on opening an office for my company in Bangalore, India thsi year, and will have to spend some extended time there.

a) Is there a gay life in Bangalore?
b) Is it safe to be out there?</font>


My bf and I traveled in Southern Inidia in
January for a few weeks, mostly with a woman
friend and her boyfriend. A wonderful trip,
but not because of the gay life. I think it
is still true that the only gay bar in India
is in Bombay. Bombay has a very lively scene
with all sorts of things going on, but not
the South, as far as I could tell. We had no problem about sharing a room in hotels and so on, but I don't think anyone caught on that we were together, and we certainly didn't feel like it was out duty to enlighten Southern India about being gay.

One good website is http://www.gaybombay.com/ , they also have some links to other places in India. I met some guys in Bombay (just for chatting, of course...) through a personal ad I put on the web site, which was a good way of meeting people on a short trip, and was overall rewarding. Also some guys from Bangalore and Chennai answered the ad. (We were in Bangalore, which did not strike me as the most interesting place we visited, but we were there only briefly.) Try to make it out of town -- train is covenient and cheap, if not exactly business class comfort.

Great place to visit, especially if you like dark-haired guys...

Feel free to email if you have any other questions.

VF

Interesting topic, though my area of interest in Pakistan.

My bf is from Pakistan, and I may be visiting sooner than I'd like.

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