Browse Archives

By Category

By Date



My Friend Sancho

My first novel, My Friend Sancho, is now on the stands across India. It is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai, and was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. To learn more about the book, click here.


To buy it online from the US, click here.


I am currently on a book tour to promote the book. Please check out our schedule of city launches. India Uncut readers are invited to all of them, no pass required, so do drop in and say hello.


If you're interested, do join the Facebook group for My Friend Sancho


Click here for more about my publisher, Hachette India.


And ah, my posts on India Uncut about My Friend Sancho can be found here.


Bastiat Prize 2007 Winner

Recent entries

Another Independence Day

July 2, 2009—mark this day. It’s a big day in the history of independent India because today was the…

Savita Bhabhi Fights Censorship

A dull government office. A pot-bellied bureaucrat in a safari suit sits behind a table on which many dusty…

‘My Mother’s Fault’

My friend Salil Tripathi was in Bombay this week to promote his marvellous new book, “Offence: The Hindu Case.”…

Spelling It Out

I’m just back from dinner with a few friends of mine, among them Anand Ramachandran and Salil Tripathi. They…

No More Pockets

Archana Sinha writes in: Nepal has ordered its customs officials to wear pocketless pants, with a view to discouraging…

19 June, 2007

No jhappis!

Report 1:

Two high schools in Mumbai have banned pupils from holding hands, kissing or touching on campus, warning that they will face disciplinary action if caught, officials said Monday.

The schools justified the move by saying that these acts, which are increasingly being shown by the local entertainment industry and emulated by the students, were contrary to traditional Indian values.

Report 2:

Fairfax County middle school student Hal Beaulieu hopped up from his lunch table one day a few months ago, sat next to his girlfriend and slipped his arm around her shoulder. That landed him a trip to the school office.

Among his crimes: hugging.

All touching—not only fighting or inappropriate touching—is against the rules at Kilmer Middle School in Vienna. Hand-holding, handshakes and high-fives? Banned. The rule has been conveyed to students this way: “NO PHYSICAL CONTACT!!!!!

Hmm. Actually, I would have welcomed such a move when I was in school. You see, I was in a boy’s school, and was deeply envious of all the fun boys in co-ed schools must have been having. “They must be touching girls,” I’d think—and then I’d start bawling. “Ban touching,” I must have demanded of any higher power that had the power.

Hey, but at least I changed! 

(Second link via email from MadMan.)

Posted by Amit Varma in Miscellaneous | Personal

Copyright (C) India Uncut - http://indiauncut.com
All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Email: amitblogs@gmail.com
This article is permanently archived at:
http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/jhappis-touching-kissing-hugging-banned-in-schools/