change

On Friday, I was walking downtown when a guy asked me to take his picture. I took several of them in front of the backdrop he wanted, and then a couple more in front of a sign with Gone West's name on it, and then more in front of another sign.

When he found out that I am also a lawyer, he made some guy take a picture of both of us together and he insisted on buying me coffee at Starbucks. (I actually got a chai, and I think he got tea.)

Then we sat in the park and drank our tea while we talked about cultural differences. 

"If a girl says no when you ask her on a date, you have to keep trying," he said.

"No," I said, "if a girl says no when you ask her on a date, you should accept her answer. If she later decides that she likes you, she will let you know."

"Maybe it is different in India," he said. 

"Even in India, you should accept when she says no," I said. 

I have a friend who studied in India who told me that the harassment from men who would not let things go when she said no was intolerable.

"But you said sometimes women change their minds."

"Women don't change their minds when you keep asking," I said. "They usually don't change their minds at all, but if they do, it is because they see that you are a good person who does not pressure them."