Public Display of Affection

Walking down Chawri Bazaar, a bustling market, I saw two young boys holding hands while walking. I was surprised and out of my amusement, I took photos of them. This wasn't the first time for me to see two men publicly displaying affection in India but this is the first that I was able to document it.

According to my Indian friends, holding hands is one way that boys in India show their friendly affection. It's actually very rare to see a boy and a girl holding hands because of conservative social norms but boy-and-boy is acceptable. I’ve also seen grown up men (think 40 years old) holding hands and swaying them while walking. And, in a separate instance, I saw two men resting their whole arm over the other's shoulder while looking each other eye-to-eye.