Inside the secret world of India's nudists | India News

In an idyllic backwater retreat, a few kilometres away from Thrissur, a bunch of 40 odd men and women of different ages gathered over a weekend last month. Some started their day with yoga, some made breakfast, some played board games, some settled down on the sofa with a book and some for a deep conversation. In between, when rains came lashing down, they rushed outside to soak in the shower and gathered inside once more at sundown with someone strumming the guitar and others singing along. In what looked like a mini summer break, nothing seemed amiss — except for what was absent — their clothes. That’s right, cocooned in a resort among the dense foliage were a bunch of humans all naked as a jaybird. These folks, who call themselves ‘Kerala Naturists’ like to go au naturel every now and then — is only a tiny fraction of India’s colossal nudist community that has embraced the practice of ‘social nudism’ also called ‘naturism’, a lifestyle of being clothes-free in social and sometimes public settings as an act of reclaiming their bodies and celebrating their natural self.“We usually gather once a month over a weekend or a public holiday. Since we’re a hidden community, we meet in a remote area in the woods or the riverside, in someone’s house or an eco-resort. People come from not just around Kerala but nearby cities like Chennai and Bangalore,” says *Sadhna, a 26-year-old from Thrissur, who grew up in a home where bodies weren’t a thing to be hidden and nudity wasn’t a shame. medium92950889“Since childhood I liked running around the house nude. I felt more free and relaxed. As I grew older, clothes felt like a mask, something that defined rich and poor. Going nude in adulthood with fellow nudists, liberated me. I felt more confident about who I am, my body and not what society expects of me.”boxcontentWhy people like being bare* Bonding with the natural world* To bask in the joy & benefits of taking in direct sun and fresh air* For a breakdown of social barriers. They believe that with shedding of clothes people shed all pretences and judgement associated with what one wears * Personal liberty * To combat body shaming and improve body-image, self-esteem and confidence* To build on the idea of tolerance * To belong to an open-minded/non-judgmental community It is not a sex partyHer boyfriend Saif*, with whom she runs an animal shelter, is also a nudist. “But a meetup is not a sex party just because we’re naked,” adds Saif, agonised by the moral judgements passed on nudity, particularly for girls and women. But what about physical attractions on seeing bodies? “After the first few minutes of seeing and being around naked people any sexual tension is taken away,” they say.There are reportedly some thousands of nudists (those who enjoy being naked) and naturists (those who practice nudity in private and social circles) in India like Sadhna and Saif. Yet, despite this fullfledged underground culture — stretching from Bareilly to Bombay, Jalgaon to Jaipur, Kolkata to Kanpur, Haldwani to Hyderabad — the lifestyle is rarely visible and often misunderstood.“That’s because most people link nudity with sex. That’s not what nudism communities are about,” says Sachin, a 42-year-old nudist veteran from Mumbai who discovered the joy of going “clothesfree” 18 years ago as a young crew member on an oil rig. “I walked into a gender-neutral washroom to find a group of foreign women sitting and chatting in the nude. Shocked and embarrassed, I ran out. My supervisor taught me that the human body is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s all in the mind and that I should try it too. ” Sleeping nude was Sachin’s first step into a nudist life, as it is for most other nudists. “I’d do it during my offshore assignments and later in my house when parents weren’t around. I felt uninhibited,” recalls Sachin as he started connecting with fellow-nudists in India on online networks and socialising in the buff. medium92950924 Of course, letting it all hang out isn’t easy in a country that has laws against nudity and views it as immoral and obscene. But whenever they get a chance, they do make the most of it.Mayank Sharma, 37, who lives in Delhi and calls himself an “outdoor nudist”, returns to his primal self during latenight drives on empty roads, hiking trails, skinny dips in the river or evening strolls in crop fields on the city’s outskirts. “The first time I shed my clothes outdoors was while driving down the highway at 3am when I stopped at a roadside tubewell to splash water on my face… No one was around so I decided to strip and bathe in the open. The water and breeze on my bare skin felt like heaven,” says Sharma, who also runs a Telegram channel as “a safe place” for fellow nudists to interact anonymously. “Nudism is still a taboo pursuit, people don’t want their identities revealed and so I avoid meetups. ”Chores without clothesLike Sharma, many who avoid nude socialising indulge in it in the secrecy of their own home doing routine housework or office work sans clothes. Those living with families, seek out secluded open places — riverbanks and hot springs, uncharted hills, jungles and beaches, and abandoned forts and buildings — to let their private parts see the light of day. However, the tradition of socialising in the nude is the highlight for most in the community.So, what exactly is the attraction of spending a day completely naked in the company of other naked people? Like Sachin and Sadhna, most nudists will clear one thing up right at the start: “Social nudism isn’t a cover for a wild orgy… It’s all about enjoying your natural self. ” They go on to say that interactions in a nudist setting are pretty much the same as in any other social gathering.The first time that Ravi*, 49 and Lina*, 47 — a couple in Delhi who would spend nude time at home doing usual chores and watching TV because it felt “comfortable” during summer months — tried social nudism was at a friend’s pool. “It started with nude dips. We gradually got to hanging around near the pool, then inside the house and now do once-a-month get-togethers,” says Ravi.If smaller meetups are chatty friendly hangouts between couples or individuals with shared interests, larger nudist meetups have an entire roster of activities — from the structured to the informal. “Someone will put out a meetup alert in their closed Telegram groups based on availability of a venue which is usually for a few hours at someone’s residence. Larger gatherings are organised at a bungalow or resort hidden from public glare and often owned by a fellow-nudist. Someone will do a recce and arrange food and living essentials before sending the staff on holiday. These gatherings are mostly mixed gender ranging from three to 50 people, between the ages of 20 and 70 years,” says Sachin, who has travelled cities for a nudist meetup. “My wife knows but doesn’t like it. ”No shame in itIn the safe space of these community meetups, people share their journey as a nudist and open up about body shame, work and spousal issues, discuss current affairs and find delight in activities like playing games, swimming, cooking and cleaning without pesky buttons, zippers and fabric getting in the way. “It’s a breakdown of man-made social divisions. There’s no body shaming, no judgement. People, regardless of shapes, sizes, scars or social status are accepted for who they are,” says Sadhna. medium92951010 Bare it but with rulesPooja, a 33-year-old housewife in Bangalore who runs five nudist groups on Whatsapp and Telegram, is extremely cautious of who she lets in and takes several measures to weed out sex seekers and ensure members feel safe around each other, unclothed. She also has a nudist etiquette guide that one needs to strictly follow at a meetup. “Carry your own towel to sit on, wrap it around when going to the balcony, and to hide arousal; digital devices are not allowed in the meeting place; and no physical contact,” reads her rulebook. Once they re-enter what nudists refer to as the “textile” world, there are also rules about not communicating or acknowledging a fellow-nudist in public. Sharing nude pictures on online groups is allowed but with its set of don’ts about explicit or sexually suggestive angles. medium92951045Anand Mondal, a 25-year-old mechanical engineer in Kolkata who likes to Adam and Eve it with his girlfriend Susmita, says, “As a teen, I enjoyed skinny dipping in the pond with other boys in the village during my summer vacations but discovered nudism as a way of life on the internet much later. I was glad that I wasn’t abnormal. Susmita laughed at first when I tried to convince her and took a year to become a full-time nudist like me,” says Anand whose parents, he claims, know about the lifestyle and support them.The desire to discard the last piece of clothing works at different levels for nudists — bonding with the natural world, health benefits of the sun and fresh air, as a social leveller, in building trust and simply for fun. A 28-year-old banker from Mumbai who calls himself Nirvastra says his nudist calling is rooted in a set of ideals. “It comes from ethical concerns — people working under harsh conditions in sweatshops, the amount of water wasted on denim, cotton fields that could be used to grow food grains and animal cruelty in the fashion industry,” he says.boxcontentKolkata tops in buff meetups1) Kolkata has the most naked meetups (almost every week) followed by Bengaluru, Mumbai, Assam and Kerala where nudists meet once a month.2) The gender ratio is skewed. More than 60% are men. Women feel more comfortable in couple meetups.3) Though the terms are often used interchangeably, naturists are those who enjoy being nude in public settings. A nudist is anyone who enjoys being in the buffPlanning a 'nakation'While the pandemic made it easier for several nudists to find freedom in the lockdown to safely take off their kit or take chances outdoor with a mask on, it was harder for those like Mandar*, a 35-year-old in Pune, stuck at home with a family, unaware of his nudist lifestyle. His restlessness birthed ‘Nudist Calendar’ — a first-of-its-kind nudist destination review platform — that maps places where one can go on a ‘nakation’ relatively unbothered based on people’s first-hand experiences. “We don’t solicit Indian destinations because we don’t want to risk it but this could be a game changer in the way Indians plan nudist vacations abroad,” says Mandar, who hopes that one day nudism will be legal in India.Names with asterisks* have been changed on request