Public affection on the rise in India

The sight of couples kissing or showing affection in public is common in the United States and is almost a cultural requirement in Italy and France.  That’s not the case everywhere, though, and particularly in a conservative culture such as India’s.  But it appears that Indian society may be changing.  There’s a fun little article in Time Magazine this week about the rise of public affection in India.

Where love in India was once a very private affair, it’s now on display all over the movies and soap operas, magazines and newspapers, and between young couples canoodling in parks. At this time of year, wedding season and the lead up to Valentine’s Day – a Western tradition increasingly popular in India’s more cosmopolitan cities – it’s even more noticeable.

It may seem strange in the land of the Taj Mahal – one of the greatest-ever public displays of affection, built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his late wife – that an increase in public displays of affection is so notable, but this increase is a departure for a culture that has long kept hidden its romantic emotions. In the recent past, unmarried couples would not hold hands in public, let alone kiss or cuddle.

As one would expect, of course, this cultural evolution isn’t universally popular.

The changes aren’t welcomed by all Indians, the vast majority of whom live outside major cities and remain far more conservative than their urban cousins. Police officers have been known to rough up young couples holding hands in public parks. Over the past few years a group of Hindu nationalists around the country have burned Valentine’s Day cards and branded the festival “cultural corruption.” Kissing still raises eyebrows when depicted in big Bollywood movies.

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