A rare thing......

I have always liked the cheery friendliness of the Americans...

Immigration officers...
Once they've seen your confirmed return tickets..
Beam at you...
Wish you a good trip!!!

Customs officials....
Join in....

Strangers greet you with...
Hi...
Have a nice day!!!

Smiles are exchanged all the time...

And as a friend from these parts once explained:
A smile and a How are ya? means that the stranger is not going to harm you...

So..
It is a signal of sorts in this culture!

I almost thought I was back in the Land of Smiles...
Until I ran into the Indians here...
They do not smile at all!!
At least not the ones in Michigan!
Yeah..they smile at other Americans...
But not at strangers who are Indian too!!!

At the Indian temple...
One heard bits of Tamil, Kannada, Telugu...
Fill the air...
But no one ...not even the usually gregarious Malayalees...looked at us..
Leave alone smiled....

They looked past us...
And through us....
As if to say:
Why have you come here? To add to the competition??
Very territorial!!!

Or maybe they were being snooty as in:
We are OLD settlers...
As if that is akin to OLD money or something!!
Or do they think Indians mean trouble???

At the local pharmacy...
The sales woman says:
We have a pharmacist..
His name is Vee-lash Meh-tta...
And she drags us to him...

She seems a trifle disappointed that Vee-lash does not look us in the eye..
Or bond with us in any way...
Despite being Indian!!
He merely mutters to her:
You will find that in the second row....
No smile at all!!!

I almost gave up on getting a smile out of an Indian..
Until...
Another woman....a newcomer???.... like me???...
Saw me waiting for Winner at Walmart...

She met my eye..
And then...
She beamed at me!!!
Made me feel good that!!!
Wish more Indians would smile at other Indians...
Would make us seem a less surly tribe!!

Cheerio then!!!