Mumbai's New Metro Makes Hooking-up Easier

While Mumbai is covered in extensive suburban, commuter rails, the city of 19 million just opened their first inter-urban rail service this summer. The Mumbai Metro, running from Versova to Ghatkopar on 11.4 km of elevated track, is bringing the city together, including the gays and lesbians of Mumbai.

Mumbai's notorious traffic makes getting around the city very difficult, but the Metro is helping facilitate casual hook-ups between gay men, according to a report in mid-day.com. "Townies can never condescend to travel northwards, [the suburb of] Lokhandwala seems to be surrounded by an impenetrable glass wall, and Mira Road is on another planet altogether. So the metro service (with its 21-minute 'in a jiffy' commute) has been connecting the dots and allowing entire circles of men to finally intersect."

Other groups are also finding community on the Metro. A group of young, activist queer women used the Metro to distribute pamphlets espousing LGBT tolerance.

"The girls were queer rights activists and wore black T-shirts strikingly emblazoned with a crossed-out 377. The number 377, refers to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes consensual sex between same-sex adults."

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