Sex in the city?

There seems to be never a dull moment here. The streets are buzzing with action. The myriad expressions of human's life is out in the open for everyone to view and contribute their part. Life is happening and crea(c)tivity is abound. Everywhere; In front of shops and home gates, in the Bastis, and in the wealthy neighborhoods. By the railway, and by the banks. There is no hiding, in fact there is explosion of expression; crying and shouting, love and devotion, disguise, hatred, sadness, madness...and then there is trash of all kinds, poop and pee, death, pain, you name it, everything that we, in the west, work so hard to hide behind closed doors, is available to fully experience. The only obvious missing shade out of the spectrum of natural humane expression, is SEX. Sexuality is a big NO; there is no hugging, no kissing, no sexy dressing, no talking in explicit sexual way, not even touching (with the opposite sex, there is a all lot of fondling between the man!:).  Occasionally, when a group of Hijras, the cast of transvestites will pass by, creating an air of sexual vulgarism, I noticed people cringe with discomfort. Sexual expression is the one single thing that get people way out of their solid 'shantiness'. Everybody are oblivious to any kind of sensual assaults and intensity but Sex. Sexuality is very hidden, like hot lava deep in the belly of the mountain. It's buried so far deep under years of British rule, and although England changed it's moral codes long ago, India just got buried deeper in sexual shame, and 'proper-ness'.
The movies, TV, and commercials, on the other hand, just get more daring and sexy, modern ideas and western lifestyle seep in, and the average marriage age rises...people live in large families in small dwellings with virtually no privacy, day and night - so you may imagine the result - one big sex pressure cooker! It is there, yet forbidden. Of course, sexuality does find its way; both in unconscious explosions of blant rudeness and weirdness, and as a natural expression in subtler ways then the eye catches. In quick gazes, in subtle movement, in the tone of voice, and in the Arts.

I remember long ago, I was once in Kerala, alone, in a tiny village surrounded by rice fields, coconut palms, rubber plantations, and ancient temples. There was only one person in the all village who spoke English. Only one road. I lived in that village for one month, sharing a small house with a newly wed couple. They were so poor, that my rent money of about $20 a month, was great supplement for their income. We cooked on open fire, drew water from the well for bathing and cooking, and stroll down to the local pond for laundry. I was taking dance classes in a school about 45 min walk from my village. The rest of the time, apart from long mornings of practicing my Sadhana, and reading over and over the same few Yoga books I carried with me, I went for long walks deep into the night. There, I discovered that as soon as night sets in, and it's pitch dark, at the temple grounds is where the men go to masturbate, and young couples may unite in secret. In that same village, I once climbed a magnificent banyan tree with a beard of suspended roots, to take a rest, and suddenly felt, for the first time since I arrived in India, sexual arousal. I got the hit that the trees may serve as another convenient location for such expression.

In Odissi dance, sensuality is dancing its way into the fluidity and grace of every move. It is permeating into every eye movement, neck slide, wrist turn, and torso bend. Fascinating how it can be so prevalent, so essential to the core of Odissi expression, and yet completely ignored in the realm of conscious communication.

I can't help it but compare between India and the West; In one, sexuality is completely denied and in the other, exploited. Finally, The results are similar, like the two sides of one coin, a huge tangle of unresolved emotions, frustration, sexual weirdness, and the deprivation of beauty, respect, and wholesomeness of our sexuality.

I find it intriguing to continue to look deeper into this phenomena, and start to understand the fine web of cultural and primal behavior, and the mystery of sexuality in such a place that was once a thriving center of Tantric practices, and is now so intensely afraid of the most primal of human expressions. Interesting enough is that the temples have been serving, once with reverence, and now under cover, as viable center for sexual expression in it's most pure, natural, and sacred way.