I definitely agree it depends on the person and it gets harder with age. While I kinda agree that the grocery store isn't the best place to make friends, the p

I definitely agree it depends on the person and it gets harder with age. While I kinda agree that the grocery store isn't the best place to make friends, the point I was trying to make was that in India sometimes these people unintentionally end up becoming friends. An amusing related anecdote: my tailor back in India was mildly upset I didn't invite him to my wedding! On the one hand I was touched that he felt that strong a connection with me. On the other hand, while Indian weddings are quite large, one does have to draw the line somewhere! But the point is this sort of thing does happen. The security guard at the university where my wife and I studied did get invited to our wedding. These serendipitous friendships do seem harder here or maybe it's just that the cultural gap between me and the average American is too large to bridge.