"Are you gay?"
The question, posed by my driving instructor, rather jolted me. "No," I said. And in fact, I'm not, and am happily married to a woman back in my native India. I am in South Florida for five months as part of a journalism fellowship program. My host at the Sun Sentinel found me a temporary place in Victoria Park, which, apparently, is home to a gay population. Which is what sparked the intrusive question from the instructor. In reality, I should not have been surprised by the question about sexuality, posed by someone here. Growing up in a small town in India, amid a conservative society that dislikes and scoffs at any explicit conversation about sex or sexuality, Florida and, particularly, Miami to me always came through the "idiot box" as an erotic fantasy. It was all about "Baywatch babes"! OK, Baywatch was set in California, not South Florida, but we equated beaches and bikinis with the Sunshine State. So for most of my friends back home, it was a matter of great envy to learn that I was heading for South Florida to train with the Sun Sentinel for five months on a journalism fellowship. Not for the puritan, professional reasons for which I was about to embark on the trip, but for the fact that I would, and they won't, get to see first hand if South Florida reality was anywhere close to those fantasies we shared with great fun in college days. Honestly, I felt like a proud winner of big ticket lottery in one corner of my alter ego. After all, journalists, too, are human beings carrying the good and the bad and all the other worldly desires you care about. Earlier this month, I felt inching closer to finally realizing my yesteryear fantasies as our flight began descending on Fort Lauderdale. Of course, the professional and personal goals that I set for myself for the fellowship remain paramount. But somewhere in the small corner of my heart, I felt a eureka moment: "Hey, man, this is it! The world of South Florida that I have always heard about is right here, under you!" Not for nothing did one of my co-fellows say to me before we parted ways in Kansas City, Missouri, after our orientation seminar: "You are a lucky devil!" Indeed Florida remains a fantasy travel for many back home. Now, being asked if I am gay was not exactly the kind of question I expected to be asked. I expected questions about India, and the Mumbai attacks. But the question suggests that South Florida will live up to my expectations, and maybe more. Jaideep Hardikar is working as a visiting journalist at the Sun Sentinel courtesy of the Alfred Friendly Fellowship program. Love Sunny Join LGBT Association of India (Pink Stone) http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/LGBT-Association-India/
