Who is Gay in an Indian Context? What is Gay? Who is Homosexual?

About three-quarters (72%) of truck drivers in North Pakistan who participated in a recent survey published in AIDS Analysis Asia admitted that they has sex with other males, while 76% stated that they had sex with female sex workers. Are these 72% gay? Homosexual? There is sufficient anecdotal evidence to indicate that in the other countries of the sub-continent, similar levels of male to male sexual behaviors exist as part of a broader sexual repertoire. Are these males bisexual?

In working with sexual health issues in India and in listening to the rhetoric of UNAIDS representatives, international donor agencies, the Indian medical profession, and many Western and Indian gay men, an assumption is often made that same-gender sexual behaviors must mean the person is a homosexual, or gay, while male to female sexual behavior must mean that the person is heterosexual.

In these discourses, procreative "heterosexuality" is seen as 'normal." While other behaviors are seen as perverse or foreign. However, these constructs seem to have little contemporary or historical validity in India (and even to some extent in the West). This reductionist ideology is a recent invention from the 19th century, which has consequently acted to reduce the rich diversity of alternate sexualities (Foucault, 1978; Weeks, 1986; Katz, 1995, Herdt, 1994).

Closer analysis of these debates seems to me to indicate a confusion among the terms sexual behavior, gender, identity formation, and cross-cultural validity, and within such confusion there may well be elements of neo-colonialism, racism, and Western imperialism.

I was interested to hear Dede Oetomo, a gay activist in Indonesia, say at the Vancouver International AIDS Conference in July 1996 that perhaps "importing" Western constructions of gay identities into Indonesia was creating a social tension whereby local homo-affectionalist and homo-social structures were being destroyed for the fear of being labeled "gay."

The debate on sexualities may even at times be perceived as a form of neo-colonialism whereby Western sexual ideologies have "invaded" Indian discourses on sexuality and identity by professionals, laypersons, "straights" or "gays," and whereby indigenous histories and cultures become invisible.

Much same-sex sexual behavior involves non-penetrative varieties, mutually indulged in frameworks of friendships and sexual play, while in other situations urgent sexual discharge and sexual "need" is the significant factor.

However, the denial of variation in history in many Western and Indian discourses had given rise to a prevailing construction of sexuality, where a "procreative and penetrative" sexual ideology is the only "sexuality" that is seen as relevant. Perversely, any other form is categorized as deviant and Western.

[Source from; globalgayz.com]

Mysore Palace or the Maharajah's Palace Karnataka India

Mysore Palace or the Maharajah's Palace located in the heart of the city Mysore, southern India at Mirza Road, is the most attractive monument in Mysore. One of the largest palaces in the country, also known as Amba Vilas, was the residence of the Wodeyar Mahararaja's of the Mysore state. The original palace built of wood, got burnt down in 1897 and was rebuilt for the twenty fourth Wodeyar Raja in 1912. Designed in Indo-Saracenic style by the well-known British architect, Henry Irwin, the palace is a treasure house of exquisite carvings and works of art from all over the world. A silhouette of the Mysore Palace illuminated with ninety seven thousand bulbs shimmering against an inky black night is one of the most enduring images of the city.

A priceless national treasure and the pride of a kingdom, the Mysore Palace is the seat of the famed Wodeyar Maharajas of Mysore. An eclectic synthesis of architectural styles the palace is one of India’s most dramatic national monuments. Today it is a museum housing treasures from across the world reflecting the rich and colorful history of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore.


The Mysore Palace is open all days of the week, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The palace is illuminated on Sundays, national holidays and state festivals from 7:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. The palace is illuminated between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. only during the Dasare festival.

If you would like to treat yourself to a private guided tour of the entire palace complex, Mysore Palace Board certified he tour guides can be found at entrance to the palace. The guides will steer you to the highlights of the Mysore Palace at a nominal fee.