Well I think girls use it out of respect , or if they are looking for same non-perverted attention . But again , it a smoke screen , can fade away anytime . I have seen girls calling someone a bahi , and later getting married to same person .
A girl calling a guy ābhaiā is not as dangerous as Khumar said that there is always a possibility of things turning around to a non-bhai relationship.
What is dangerous: when a single guy starts calling a same age single girl, behen. That just means that the girl is too ugly.
Contrary to the picture OP paints I always thought people play the brother/sister card when they do in fact fancy you but wouldnāt admit to it.
Eg: One of my best mates reiterated time and again that I am just like a sister to him and insisted I think of him as a brother (though he behaved like anything but one). Several years later, he confessed he was in love with me but feared rejection so played the brother card to be safe in case i confronted him. That was one ****ed up thing to do.
It could also be that the girl likes some guy who is friends with the girlās elder brother or is a family friend or an elder cousin and she has no choice but to call him BHAI.
Err No. That is weird. Why would you call someone bhai out of no choice? I see what you mean with elder cousins though. I have been brought up to call all my cousin brothers as bhai and they are all elder to me too. But they are not ājust for the heck of itā bhais. I do consider them as brothers which is why the prospect of marrying one of em grossed me out.
Okay look. There is someone who is your mumās friend. Your mum and that aunty have been friends for years. The aunty has a son and because your mum is close to them, itās like family. The aunty tells you that her son is your bhai.
I like people calling me by my name . Its much easier . You can actually carry a conversation without being under pressure of being a ābahiā . It does not mean that Iāll be thinking about hitting on her or something , its just that you can talk more like being in equal standing rather than acting like a relative . But again , sometime its part of a culture that you canāt avoid .