Mainstream WeeklyLetter to the readers, Mainstream
Indian society remains a conservative place with limited respect for legally guaranteed individual/personal rights of adult citizens. In the name of traditional values, community, caste, religion, and family carry greater weight compared to individuals and their rights and choices. In any society people trying to build personal relationships require places to interact, meet, to socialise, and need space and privacy. Personal space is under constant surveillance and a controlled gaze of society. Individuals try to find solutions in public spaces, in parks, cinemas, and on social media networks to date to meet and try to find hotels & short-term accommodation for greater intimacy outside of their families. Independent-minded citizens who go against the current face the wrath of society, vigilante groups & even the police. Over the past years, the rights of individuals to choose their life partners have faced frequent opposition. Traditional parent-approved marriages is the dominant norm & live-in relations are frowned upon. Recently Oyo Rooms, one of the largest low-cost hospitality chains which provided an easy solution to couples announced a regressive policy of shutting their doors to unmarried couples [1]. Such a policy by Oyo announced for one north Indian city has apparently come to assuage the