Man Hug…Misunderstood

It is always amazing on how things are understood differently based on ones cultural background and upbringing. Being a dude from India I know it is quite common for boys, even grown up adults for that matter, to hold hands or even casually wrap hand around the shoulders of friends while walking on public roads. No one finds it unusual in that country and the setting.

Why am I talking about this now?

Here’s the situation. One of my colleagues had a minor stroke recently and was out of action for a couple of weeks. We were fortunate that these were minor strokes and he had his family around to take care of him immediately. All my colleagues were so concerned about him. He was eventually cleared to get back to work and he showed up promptly at office today, thanks to his loving wife, he got tired of her being over protective and wanted to take a break. I was so happy to see him back in office and I gave him a “Hearty Man Hug”. Another colleague of mine standing right behind me says “I am not gay, so I’ll just shake your hand”. I know he said that in a lighter vein and didn’t mean to be hurtful to me or anyone for that matter.

It sounded very funny to me, at that instance, given that I have so many friends, boys to be precise, that I must have held hands with when I was a kid and even in college. That’s when this thought crossed my mind as to why one should be “Culturally Aware” while exhibiting affection in the public. This is precisely the reason why I had to dump a couple of pink shirts I had when I moved from India to the USA.