Usually the encounters happen in a bar or cafe. No matter how many people there are of us sitting around a table, quite often an Indian guy comes and asks if he can sit down with us. Quite invariably we refuse. And quite invariably they don't care and try to sit down anyway.
Strange situations have been when one of us is visiting the bathroom and a local guy tries to take his place. Or when we have our bag on a chair and someone removes the bag and tries to sit. Or when we just simply don't care of having local company (which is quite often, if not always.)
Once when I was in the nearby bar with Tani and Pyry and a local tried to sit with us, there suddenly appeared 5 more of his friends behind him. "Is there a problem here? What are you doing?!" after we told the guy that he can't sit there. The situation was quite strange - most of the locals are quite small and bony and especially Tani is often just laughing at their efforts to try to pick up a fight. Are they willing to pick a fight just because we don't want their friend to sit in our table? It really seemed so.
It is not so rare that we have to shout at the guys that no, they may not sit down. They always ask first but never care about the reply.
Another funny thing with many of these local guys is their.... closeness with each other. Surely this is related to the I-want-to-sit-in-your-table thing. Sometimes it seems that 50% of guys here are gays. They hold each others' hands, they often wrap their hand around each the other's shoulders while sitting, they dance with each other (how morally wrong it would be to dance with a woman? dunno) and of course usually groups are just of one sex. Some of the most hilarious moments are when two guys are crossing a street, running hand in hand between the cars leading each other.
Happy guys!Gay sex was illegal until 2009 in India although nobody had been sentenced for it for the past 20 years. Now it's not illegal anymore officially, but the attitudes are still far from liberal. At least in the north. Few years ago a royal prince (Manvendra Singh Gohil) in the north-west state Rajpipla came out of the closet. And the result? His family tried to disinherit him.
Nowadays the south of India is more tolerant (and civilized) and especially Mumbai is a gay haven. But while in Mumbai we noticed that the people are totally different there - they act like civilized people in cafes and bars (well, when they're not drunk anyway). The difference between the north and the south seems to be a huge one. Unfortunately Jaipur is in the north.
P.S. Oh and about the wedding I was in on Wednesday. Basically that day of the wedding included only a parade which we participated in by dancing (not like we had much of a choice) and after that an area for eating and some photographs at the stage with the groom. The bride was nowhere to be seen for the whole evening. I'll attach a few pictures.
The groom
Food at the wedding
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