Condom Bar, The

This article from the Indian online news service Boloji recounts the opening of the Condom Bar by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) in the Kalagram Arts Village Complex on the
Chandigarh-Shimla highway. The establishment is, according to the article, a bar that serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and snacks, and, on order, supplies condoms. The intention of Jasbir Singh Bir, Managing Director, CITCO, who initiated the project, is to raise AIDS awareness and encourage safe sex for the middle class and the lower middle class.


With the intention to "shed our hypocrisy and see what the ground reality is. [Bir states,] We need to encourage condom usage rather than be embarrassed about it..." He has pursued that intent by filling the bar with condom motifs and messages about safe sex, as well as an HIV/AIDS film. Condoms are available for both men and women, supplied by the [Union Territory] UT State AIDS Control Society.


The bar strategy has elicited some negative comments - including statements that
the society is not culturally ready, but officials support the bar as a move
forward. Sonia Trikha, Project Director, UT State AIDS Control Society, who supports
the effort, elaborates, "The opening of the Condom Bar
has served the purpose of breaking the taboo on talking about sex and condoms." The news story concludes with the facts that as many as 1,500 HIV positive people receive treatment at the local medical institute, and there are an
equal number of such patients in the surrounding areas
of Punjab and Haryana. As many as 155 children in the district are among those receiving treatment for HIV.

Editor's note:

Two related pieces were published in the Hindu Times as follow-ups to the article summarised above:

1. "Study: CITCO's Condom Bar - 'Ineffective' Way to Tackle AIDS", by Sangeeta Johal (June 26 2007)
2. "Condom Bar: CITCO Removes Picture HT IMPACT", by Sangeeta Johal (June 27 2007)