set for holiday

New Delhi, Aug. 7: Out of the closet, off to a vacation.

The jury may still be out on homosexuality but a travel agency seems to have second-guessed the judgment and announced what is possibly India’s first “all-gay’’ tour package.

IndjaPink, set up by Delhi fashion designer Sanjay Malhotra, offers customised tours in India for gays, both for those living in the country and overseas.

“IndjaPink is the first and only-gay travel boutique in India,” said Puneet Kumar, the agency’s manager. But why IndjaPink?

Kumar said India in Latin was “Indja”, while pink was the colour associated with gays. “IndjaPink represents the aspirations and dreams of the gay community.”

In order to make its customers comfortable, IndjaPink offers “gay-friendly’’ chauffeurs and bearers”. “We want to ensure there is no intrusion into their (gay tourists’) privacy and, more importantly, there are no curious eyes following them,’’ Kumar added.

One of the ways in which the agency plans to do this is by booking entire hotels for a specific period and by carefully selecting the spots its clients will visit.

According to IndjaPink, the tourists will be put up in hand-picked accommodations in destinations where customers can be provided a “gay-friendly atmosphere and personalised services”.

Although the tour is meant for gay couples, singles needn’t be disappointed: IndjaPink has offered to “pair them up” with “pleasant and compatible roommates’’.

Asked whether two male friends who were not gays could get on board, Kumar’s answer was no. “Our agency caters exclusively to gays from all over the world and our tour packages have been conceived keeping their requirements in mind. So there won’t be any space for non-gays.”

On offer are sightseeing, gay parties, cooking classes and spa trips.

One can choose from a collection of packages. One is called “Sanjay’s tour for Winter 2009” — named after the designer — at a cost of $3,495 (around Rs 1.67 lakh) per person on twin-sharing basis.

But a touted favourite is a four-day Goa tour, which, for Rs 50,000, will include stay at a sea-front hotel. The agency plans to invite gay groups in Goa to its beach parties.

To keep the spirits high, welcome and farewell dinners are on the menu, “with unlimited alcohol and escorted tours to gay bars”.

“In the evening, we take you out to an escorted farewell dinner with local gay community in Delhi. Meet, interact and make friends with them, followed by an escorted tour of a gay-friendly bar / night club or an invitation to an exclusive gay party,’’ says the brochure.

Designer Malhotra has been at work for long. He set up the IndjaPink website last year but registered the agency only after the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising homosexuality last month. The final word is not out, though, with an appeal filed in the Supreme Court against the order.

Kumar can’t seem to thank the high court enough. “Till its ruling, everything was hush-hush. But now gays are more relaxed and keen to assert their rights.”

Then, he brings in the business part. Before the July 2 ruling, there were one or two queries about the tour packages daily.

“But now we are getting fabulous responses both from national and foreign tourists,’’ he said.

Coming up next: special tour packages for lesbians. “We will like to cater to the entire homosexual community,’’ Kumar said.