We are a conservative country when it comes to expressing or demonstrating love. There are many things that you can do in public in Mumbai for instance, but hugging, holding and kissing are taboo because it offends the self appointed keepers of our morals, the police.
Section 110 of the six-decade old Mumbai Police Act allows the police carte blanche to decide what behaviour it deems “offensive”. It also permits any policeman, including a constable, to book and arrest a person for “indecent behaviour in public” if it occurs in his sight.
But here’s what’s mystifying. There’s a whole catalogue of indiscretions that one can engage in, in public, unencumbered by our friends in the khaki – but hug or plant a kiss on your lovers’ forehead? The danda will strike you with a force that will make you remember your long forgotten dead ancestors.
What the state does not allow you, it compensates for in other ways. Therefore, here’s a list of some of the things you can do in public (except PDA) that wouldn’t raise the bushy eyebrow of your friendly neighbourhood policeman.