It was one of the many such lessons on how different life in the US was (and is) from the one I had lived back in India. In India, more than a few people appreciated my adult-like behavior and perspectives on life and, yet, here I was a kid all over again.
But then, of course, I quickly caught up with them. Except for the driving license, which took some time. At least, that is what I thought.
One "difference" came up at an unexpected moment. It was the summer after my first year, and a group of us were down in Venezuela for three weeks on a project work. As we settled down into a work schedule after the first couple of days, evenings were about hanging out, sometimes at the rented house where we were staying.
One evening, a bunch of us were at a bar. I had a soft drink as I always did. Across from me at the table were John and Charles, and the rest were at other tables. These two were both Peace Corps guys and had been around, in every sense of that phrase.
As bar talk amongst guys often becomes, well, this one, too, got to the subject of girls. John, who was about ten years older than me, started teasing me about how the local young women were eager to chat up with me whenever we were at the university library or the stores.
That is when he asked me, "have you been with a woman, Sriram?"
I didn't even have to respond; John laughed and exclaimed, "oh my god, you are blushing!"
Until then I hadn't known that even darker-complexioned people like me can have enough color change to blush in a semi-lit bar!
I suppose the older we get, the less innocent we become and, therefore, no blushes! No wonder there is an industry to fake the blush :)
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