Nepali Familiarity

The men, women and children in Nepal are all very familiar with each other. People often call unrelated friends and aquaintances brother, sister, aunt, uncle etc. The Nepali words for brother and sister are different for older and younger, so it is a sign of respect for someone older as well as familiarity. Often the person's name isn't used, just 'bhai', 'dai' 'didi' and 'bahini' for older and younger brother and sister respectively. Bhai and didi were the two I heard most commonly, although I often heard dai as well. After a while it just became natural to respond when someone said didi as to my own name!
The familiarity extends to physical as well. I've noticed it mostly among children and young adults. It doesn't cross gender lines, but seeing two people of similar age walking down the street hand in hand or sitting with their arms around each other is normal. It's not a sign of homosexuality, but rather a way of showing friendship. The sense of personal space here is much smaller, but I quickly became used to the female teachers putting their arms across my shoulders or the children leaning right over me. This is one arena in which it's a little better to be female, as the guys in the group seem to end up with arms across their shoulders or people wanting to hold their hand down the street. The Nepali men won't do the same with a woman, and the Nepali women don't tend to show this familiarity unless they already know you.
All together it just goes to show how friendly and open Nepalis are, that they consider so many people family and aren't afraid to demonstrate they care.