is it allowed for an unmarried couple to stay in an hotel room?

federica

After an overnight bus/train trip it can be nice to have a shower. For office trips we always had it, once shared with a male colleague. But each of us was sitting in the lobby opposite the reception while the other person took a shower

kmalik

Like everyone else, I too don't think this is a real concern. However, I was surprised to read the following experience experience on a site called India Mike...

camelgirl

Now I'm even more confused You stayed in the lobby so where did you take your refreshing shower with a male colleague? This is sounding both strange & risque & quite common on soap operas!

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edwardseco

I think I am too young to read all this steamy stuff..

robotvoice

oh no. that's not what i meant!

When I was in Delhi, in transit, arriving at dawn and leaving at dusk, my wife and I tried to rent a budget room in Paharganj for the day only so we could set our bags down. Even though we explained that we were going to leave on an evening train, it was very difficult to find anything and I ended up paying about 200 rupees for the deal. That was the 'discount' price, and that was for a room i would NOT pay rs200 to sleep in. It was Disgusting, Dirty and Damp, and there were actual standing puddles on the floor at the base of the bed. As for the bed itself, well, damp would be too kind a word to describe it.

sorry for the off-topic rant.

Tamaloo

There is a report in one of today's papers (here in Bangalore) that marriage certificates will be requested when people are booking into hotels in the city. This is apparently a move to prevent terrorism (in the same way that half closing gates to complexes and having a mirror pushed under your vehicle as you enter shopping malls is supposed to combat terrorism). Not sure how many establishments will apply the letter of this new directive but remember this is the city where dancing is currently banned and music in pubs must be turned down to the level of "barely audible". Best avoid Bangalore, I'd say.

Aishah

Interesting post, Tamaloo - thanks for putting it here and updating news re this subject.

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theyyamdancer

I was planning to visit Bangalore but now I have just changed my mind!

"dancing is currently banned" - really? Why?

Tamaloo

It is banned because of the authorities' inability to distinguish a dance-bar from a non dance-bar. (Dance-bar is a euphemistic term for those joints where women dance for men in return for money. It's all very innocent compared to the west, nonetheless, it does have a seamy reputation here).

The whole dance-bar / disco thing goes back a long way and there must be other posts on this forum that deal with the topic. In a nutshell though, pubs used to open until 4am or later. Now all bars must close by 11.30 except, I think, if you're a five star hotel and then you're allowed a little longer. So no nightclubs, no late drinking and as a continuation of the restrictions, no DJs and certainly no dancing. The music in Hard Rock Cafe was playing on pre-recorded loop on Saturday and in Couch on MG Road - normally a pretty good place for a beer - the music (which was deliberately bland) was so low you could hardly hear it. Bangalore is SAD I'm afraid and it doesn't look as though it's going to get better anytime soon.

machadinha

Indeed; so far mostly concentrated on Mumbai I thought: good bye nautch girls

I was likewise surprised to hear this of Bangalore; could it be there are some goodie-two-shoes types in power there now?

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Tamaloo

I don't know about that but I think we're now on our third police commissioner since the restrictions were originally launched and the stance seems to be hardening. It was hardly helped by a so-called "protest" in Bangalore on Sunday where the protestors - if photos in yesterday's papers are anything to go by - seemed to be universally happy and at peace with the world.

Anyway, sorry to have hi-jacked this thread. India may be a democracy but it's getting less and less democratic in Bangalore these days.

justatraveller_kundu

thanks you guys for all the help and the raised eyebrows.
as for the refreshment part we will be starting early in the morning, and the bus that will take us back is scheduled for 6:00 pm in the evening. the city that we are going to is a small place and wont take an entire day to explore, so we might have three to four hours in hot afternoon to kill before we start on way back. now that is the entire deal about 'refreshing' . But i have heard that people do get harassed by the police, and the problem is rampant here. moreover we definitely dnt look like married. so quite understandably we dnt want to get into any trouble with the police, that is why so much of ground work and apprehension.

but nonetheless guys, thanks a lot, the information provided really helped.

machadinha

<cross-posted>

Hm. I checked your blog, as listed in your profile. You're an expat living there right? (Geez, that almost makes it sound like something bad. No, that's not what I mean.) However, I thought for stern assertions like these it might help people to know where you're coming from.

I'm kind of surprised that if this upsets you and if you're worried about democracy and stuff, you wouldn't know what the current political set-up there is. Which would seem to make all the difference.

Would you have been happier if those protesters had thrown bricks? That usually creates its own kind of stink.

Or are you just another raver "fighting for the right to party"? That makes it sound personal and it's not meant to, however it's not my stance or I find it a little limited, hence the question.

Tamaloo

The government is BJP currently but the whole night-life issue cuts across political considerations and came into force, if I remember, when the JD-S was in power.

My point about the photos was simply that as protests go, it didn't appear - from the papers anyway - that people were particularly put-out. Indeed, some of the poses from the old regulars who grace the pages of page 3 of Bangalore Times were exactly the same poses that they seem to practice so well on their nights out. Would it really have been so hard to muster a frown or a grimace even?

"What do we want?"
"Our nightlife back."
"When do we want it?"
"Err, whenever you like, I mean, if it's not too much trouble..."

And yes, I'm an expat Brit who was sitting at home on Sunday rather than smiling or protesting.



Oh goodness, no. I'm far too old to be a raver, but it would be nice to have the option to listen to loud music, listen to a DJ (as long as he doesn't play Hotel California) and to drink late once in a while.

Aishah

Guys - can we keep to topic, please! This is going way beyond OP's original question..there are other threads about this problem where you could exchange views.

Justa travellerkundu - not all eyebrows are raised! There are quite a variety of answers here to give you an idea. Good luck and enjoy your break.