US visit : Brotherhood

I was visiting United States first time and I was thrilled. It was my official trip in portland. I was recieved at airport by one of my old friends. We were good friends in college and I was meeting this guy almost after 6 years. I was quite impressed by his changed accent and life style. THINGS were american and I had liked it with my first glance. Dont ask me Why :)

So coming to the core of this talk, once we made up a plan to roam around his campus [portland university]. Campus was really good, spreaded within the downtown area with multiple locations, buildings, etc, etc. Lot of parks in between as well. Though the campus is scattered but beautiful too. We were capturing these campus moments with my camera clicks :)

During one of these snaps, I tried to put my arm around this guy [friend] and was just shocked by his reaction. He almost jerked my hand away and said "Dont be a gay". Well that was HOSTILE !!. After that he gave a 2 min painful lecture on guys and gays etiquettes and their differences offcourse. Still it was an OVERREACTION to me.

A similar incident happened when I went to San diego to visit my another friend [again a collegemate]. We were on some outing and taking our snaps. I had forgotten my previous incident and again did that gayish act. Oh lol, the reaction I got was exactly same. Hmm...so its not only my friend in portland but the gayish culture is not accepted in san diego as well :)

I just thought to myself , am I missing something?? In india we [guys] used to put arms around each other. It was so casual, so warm filled with the emotions. The emotions which brought us together. It was a symbol of brotherhood, a friendship whom we seek in our happyness and sorrows. These people spent few years of their lives and they forgot this lovely gesture of ours so disgracefully.

Well I cant force an individual to stick to its culture and values but does it mean you will accept everything that comes on your way labeled as AMERICAN. Just a thought!!

Being an INDIAN !!