Indians Divided on Kissing A Cultural Taboo Goodbye

Long-haired, with a sparkly salwar-kameez (a tunic-and-pants suit) and a nose ring, Saloni, 18, who like some Indians does not have a last name, goes through elaborate machinations to meet with Gagrae, a curly-haired tennis instructor.

First she tells her parents she's going to the market. She then sneaks off to Safdarjung Tomb. Meanwhile, her friend goes shopping in her place, and meets her later with a package. Saloni returns, her parents none the wiser.

"Our elders teach us not to lie and then make us lie," said her friend Puja Pretti, 15, as she handed Saloni her market bag.

In an incident that shook the country last month, a teenage girl was gang-raped when she went off to a desolate area under a bridge with her boyfriend, after they had been shooed from a public park by police in Mumbai. The city is now considering making a safe zone with lighting and benches for couples who want to hold hands and talk in a city that is crammed with people, often living in one-room apartments with extended families.

"Public affection is just a very delicate matter in India today because of fear of total globalization," said Neera Punj, an activist with CitiSpace, a civic group that advocates open spaces in Mumbai. "You don't want Indian-ness to be wiped out completely. Then again, we really feel for these young people who need free expression for mental health. India is in constant contradiction of itself and always an oxymoron. In the end, there will have to be some balance. That's what happens in the world's biggest democracy."

Even when it comes to kissing, she said with a giggle.

Special correspondent Indrani Ghosh Nangia contributed to this report.