India and Nepal have no notion of personal space. If walking as a couple, unless you hold hands, people will walk between you constantly. Holding hands is common amongst friends of both sexes and even policemen. Buses and Trains would be crammed to the brim, everyone in everyone else's space. I recall falling asleep on a bus and waking to find an Indian man sat on my lap.
I was last there a year ago (I'm married to an ethnic Nepali) and it's changing, fast. Global media and cheap data via smartphones has opened up the culture in urban areas to all kinds of outside influences. The pace of social change in Nepal especially is astounding, even compared to my first visit earlier in the 2000s. There is much less pressure to marry within a caste hierarchy, or even within the same religion. For example two cousins-in-law have married 'out' (one to Magar ethnic group, one to a Christian) which would have been unheard of 20 years ago.
But, happy to say that friends of the same gender (mostly females) can still walk about holding hands. I see many fewer men doing so now :-(
Public affection between opposite gender couples is still frowned upon but I get a free pass for holding hands with my hubby as I'm disabled hence it makes sense I have to hold onto him! Personal space is still at a premium in public areas but I quite like the jostle and hustle on the local buses and in the shopping/central areas of Pokhara. I've often been handed a Nepali baby to hold onto whilst seated on the bus, none of that paranoid nonsense we've developed here. One thing I've noticed is that in Nepal and India that others are more considerate of those with a disability, whether they be beggars or a tourist. I've never had to ask to sit down.
Some women have penises, you h8r!
maximus otter
Nepal is one of the the countries to historically recognise third gender - the
Ramayana story from the Hindu tradition from 300BC has a section relating to the founding of the concept of
Hijra people*** - and there is a long-standing community of '
Meti' people. Mostly they are intersex (ie, neither identifiably or biologically male
or female) people but also include butch women and effeminate men who tend to live in a family-type group all dressing as females.
Sadly, some parents when faced with a hermaphrodite baby (or possibly homosexual older child) dump them with the Metis and forget about them. Some youngsters run away to join Meti/Hijra families. Some gay men join the Metis as being openly gay in Nepal just isn't an option.
Metis are in demand at weddings and similar parties as they sing and dance but also they are believed to have the power to bless or curse an occasion so they are always invited and paid well 'just in case'.
3rd gender isn't a new hippy-dippy right-on new concept, it's been around for a long time in some parts of the world, just not ours.
*** Prince Rama left Ayodhya to travel, a crowd of his subjects followed him into the forest because of their devotion to him. Rama notices this, and gathers them together to tell them not to mourn, and that all the "men and women" of his kingdom should return home. Rama then leaves and does not return for 14 years. When he returns to Ayodhya, he finds that the hijras, being neither men nor women, have not moved from the place where he gave his speech. Impressed with their devotion, Rama grants hijras the boon to confer blessings on people during auspicious inaugural occasions like childbirth and weddings.