P.D.A at G.O.D

One of my friends who had just returned from Canada asked me to take her around the most happening places in Kathmandu. Naturally, the first place that came to my mind was Thamel. With its colourful ambience and foreigners setting the place abuzz, this place is definitely hard to ignore by. So, I took her around and finally after stopovers at different local shops, we settled for Garden Of Dreams. Garden of Dreams is located in Thamel chowk. Originally, it belonged to the Ranas who ruled the country for 104 years. About six years ago, it was opened to public.

The moment a person steps into this garden, it is difficult not to get enthralled by its beauty. From the magnificent fountains to the colourful floras to the exquisite sculptures, this garden truly stands by its name for it indeed is a dream garden. Apart from its beauty, the thing that caught my eye was the number of lovers drooling in the garden. The place was filled with young teenage lovers to old married couples, all trying to get their share of privacy. What amazed me was not the number of such couples but their willingness to display P.D.A.

Many of the people may not be familiar with the term P.D.A which stands for Public Display of Affection but most of us have seen it either on T.V or other mass media. Basically, in a country like Nepal it is rare to see P.D.A being displayed at all (and no, we don’t count the foreigners’ snogging in open). It may be due to our culture or our respect for others, Nepalese have always been hesitant in displaying affection in public. Small things such as holding hands, sharing a kiss or just a hug is looked down by the society. But this was clearly not the case in Garden of Dreams.

In every nook and corner of the place, some sort of affection was being shared. The onlookers didn’t pass any strange gazes neither gave a second look. This was so not the society I was used to living in. A part of me felt glad that our society was becoming more open minded but a part of me also felt that we may be heading toward the road to indecency which bothered me. It is not only in garden of dreams but many secluded areas where couples often forget their virtues and put the by-stander in an awkward position. I am not against P.D.A at all. Believe me, I’d be the last person to oppose it but I strictly believe there is a thin line between cute affection and raunchy P.D.A.