India
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India , officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world.
Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture.
Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
The Indian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies; it is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and inadequate public healthcare. India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society.
It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
Bamboozling. There’s simply no other word that captures the enigma that is India. With an ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and confound all at once, India presents an extraordinary spectrum of encounters for the traveller. Some of these can be challenging, particularly for the first-time visitor: the poverty is confronting, Indian bureaucracy can be exasperating and the crush of humanity sometimes turns the simplest task into an energy-zapping battle. Even veteran travellers find their sanity frayed at some point, yet this is all part of the India experience. Love it or loathe it – and most visitors see-saw between the two – India will jostle your entire being. It’s a place that fires the imagination and stirs the soul like nowhere else on earth.
Spectacularly Diverse With its in-your-face diversity – from snow dusted mountains to sun-washed beaches, tranquil temples to frenetic bazaars, lantern-lit villages to software-supremo cities – it’s hardly surprising that this country has been dubbed the world’s most multidimensional. For those seeking spiritual sustenance, India has oodles of sacrosanct sites and thought-provoking philosophies, while history buffs will stumble upon gems from the past almost everywhere – grand vestiges of former empires serenely peer over swarming streets and crumbling fortresses loom high above plunging ravines. And then there are the festivals. With its vibrant mix of religious denominations, India is home to a formidable array of celebrations – from larger-than-life extravaganzas with caparisoned elephants and body-twisting acrobats to pint-sized harvest fairs paying homage to a locally worshipped deity.
The LGBT scene however is conspicuous by its absence, especially in relation to lesbians. Unfortunately I could not find out much on the internet in the way of organizations or help for the Lesbian traveller.
Lesbians in India are conspicuous by their lack of visibility in mainstream society.
If you were to accept the Indian government’s stance concerning sexual minorities, lesbians would not exist. Sadly, this is an attitude that resonates with large parts of Indian society even today. Lesbian invisibility has become a deep-seated feature of society and has had a deterring effect on the formation of a lesbian community: as opposed to the visible male homosexual community, lesbian networking has largely taken shape on the peripheries of society’s consciousness.
This is partly due to the strong patriarchic undercurrents, the male supremacy and the homophobia that have shaped women’s lives in India, lesbians have remained largely invisible, waiting in the shadows and hoping for change.
So we flew from Bangkok to Goa, lets see what happens.
2011
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