"Strange"rs who make you strange

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned about people who are afraid to socialize…Linkhere. After reading my post (I prefer selfies always  ) people in this world have mended their ways   I got to meet few people who redefine the term “being friendly” and took it to different heights… They made me take back my words “Please interact with people around you” and made me say “Silence is golden.”

So here goes my series of encounters with “over friendly” people who made me just gape at their questions

 This happened in an MTC bus. A middle aged lady offered a seat next to her and I was moved by her gesture and sat immediately which I later realised as a blunder. She smiled. I smiled. She smiled. I smiled. Again, she smiled. I smiled. Now, she  smiled. I turned looking elsewhere. My cheeks started paining after the smiley smiley game that she intended to play. “Helllloooo”, she remarked and the clear victory from the smiley smiley game was evident in her voice and my “hi” couldn’t match it.  She continued “What are you doing?” peeping into my mobile. I now got a feel of she being some curious distant relative of mine. I immediately locked my phone screen to avoid showing details and said “Nothing… Just browsing” with a fake smile. Ha HA HA Ha (I understood the meaning of laugh-out-loud perfectly and had to cover my face to avoid glances from almost everybody in the bus including the driver from his rear mirror  ) She continued unperturbed by the looks, “You are a funny girl! Are you studying or working?” with a pat on my back. At that moment I missed being a tortoise, how good it would have been to disappear into my shell… Sigh! I gave a one word reply “Working!” She continued “Now if I ask you where are you working, don’t say in a company that gives you work” and ended with her typical ha ha ha ha for her joke! I couldn’t stand it more and literally pulled out of her clutches and jumped from the seat “Ok bye Aunty! My stop has come!” only to hear her say “You didn’t get ticket for this stop.. Sit Sit” Managed to get down somehow… But 2 stops before my actual stop and walked 

 In family functions, we always come across these strangely related strangers who try being close but end up irritating us. In a recent function, such a stranger relative sat next to me during lunch! It started off with the clichéd enquiry, “Do you know who I am? I have seen you 20 years back… you were such a small kid back then! (Devil in me: Wow! What a discovery! I didn’t know you were born as a grown-up  ) I smiled (the usual fake smile which has a lot of hidden meaning). He continued , “You used to ask me elephant stories and would eat only if I tell that” (Devil in me: Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire! I have never thrown tantrums for eating.  ) Same smile again! When it was time to eat, he started avoiding all the dishes that were brought to him. He didn’t stop it there “You put this also in her plate! I am an old man now”. That guy who served didn’t even bother about my disapproval and just went about doing his job  I obviously couldn’t eat and was struggling… He got up to wash “See… You are still the same kid who doesn’t eat… Should I start the elephant stories?” , laughed “When I come back after washing, you should have completed all this or else elephant stories!” and made his way… My cousins burst out laughing and it was a #facepalm moment, at the same time… highly irritating! I patted myself for passing the patience test with a high score! Ufff..

 This was in a temple where I preferred to sit as my mom went round and round and round… So many rounds that I actually lose count! A lady sat next to me and asked “Are you from chennai?” I made an assumption that she is new and replied “Yes!” with a tone ‘May I help you?’ She  said , “I am from trichy! Came to my brother’s house!” I found she was struggling to make her english sentences and so replied in tamil. She continued in her english , “You IT?”. My reply was in tamil again ! She continued “My brother son also IT. Chennai only. So I know IT” To show that she knows about IT she made her question elaborate now… “TCS, CTS or Infosys?” I replied CTS. She remarked “My brother’s son there only.America company” I couldn’t hold back my giggles while she told his name and asked me if I know him. When I denied, she gave me a look that as if I lied to her about my profession. “You studied B.E? After that?” I nodded for the first question and for the second I told I started working… She clapped her hand as if she cracked the final question of Amitabh Bacchan “That’s why you no know him! He is BE MBA”. I didn’t understand what’s the connection but still managed to tell “Irukalam” (May be). She started describing her “I.T” knowledge which was actually entertaining 

Its become a very long post… However hard I try, I cannot write short posts  Though these moments were irritating, after few days it helped me write a post  Try striking ‘smart conversation’ with people and always be ready with your hi-s, hellos and heys… Keep socializing… Who knows, you might even end up on a couch in ‘Koffee with Karan in season 100′  

Wow! Whatte start!

Fresh Year, Fresh start… As always, hopes are high … I wish I don’t let it die (Does it rhyme by any chance?  ) I felt 2013 went off in a jiffy… Has the earth drunk Boost and increased its speed of rotation and revolution?  Lets leave it to the scientists 

So 2014 has started pretty good for me as I was on leave and had a long weekend HCM Leave comments states the reason as family function… Trust me… I never lie  My new year kick started with fun, celebration and tasty food 

These family functions gain a lot of excitement similar to our school picnic dates as and when the date draws closer and closer. This was no different. With my cousins and me discussing the dress and indulging in shopping every now and then, the function became the trending topic among the family members  Anybody and everybody (all generations) had some or the other update regarding the function… Cousins started arriving from all parts of the world… Excitement was surely in the air, though we were just participants and didn’t have much role as such 

The eve of the function was just Hi-s, Hugs and catching up with the missed gossips with cousins  Then slowly the naughty kids in us showed up  We heard there is a canteen in an music concert auditorium that serves tasty dishes… since it is music season, the canteen had updated their menu  This info was given to me by one of my cousins who took his bike to gather all required updates from the surrounding areas ! So, as soon as he  gave this news, we were excited!

We made a plan to slowly sneak out of the function hall when people are busy. We also decided that all of us won’t go out at the same time as it might trigger suspicion (CBIs you see  ). There was a tea stall about 2 min away from the function hall. It was going to be our meeting spot to gather and complete our mission.

Two or three of us started trickling out from the hall, signalling the others. So we finally went there, had all possible dishes and made our way back to the hall. Though the dishes weren’t anything special and the food arranged was no less, the thrill and the fun involved was awesome  We looked as if we are plotting a murder or kidnap… standing in group with serious faces, whispering in husky voices, alerting if we see any potential danger (elders) . The best part was, we didn’t plan the finance part  So had to gather all coins and notes available to pay the bill as the canteen was so big that it didn’t have card swiping option too  We stood under a fan that hardly rotated , shared the same plate, spoke in loud voice , laughed loud and ate as if we haven’t seen food for a while… I realised nothing feels awkward when you are actually with a group of people who are as insane as you are�  The server was glad that we were literally fighting to eat his canteen’s food  Well, it was the tastiest food at that moment�  Giggles and mischievous grins that followed, made me relive my childhood days 

Many such events happened all through the function… Like managing conversation with people for 15 min without giving them a hint that we don’t recognize them, dumping my cousin’s plate with all the items that I don’t like, searching and bribing my little cousins to find my mobile phone that was hid by my brother and so on!

On the whole, 2014 has started very very well and I wish it continues to be the same Wish you all an amazing year with lots of blogging activities  (Well that’s a note to self )

Hammering the nails of Violence

Did you check the latest clippings of Paul Walker Car crash? Whoa! Mind blowing… When I answered in negative, my cousin immediately added, “It has crossed million likes!” I was shocked. People like a video of a person dying  Same was the case with the ATM havoc video of Bangalore where a lady was beaten up.

There are these compilation of videos ‘Gone in 60 seconds’, ‘world’s most scariest moments’ and so on, that show accidents that are really pathetic. A lady near my house was proudly telling my mom that her kid will eat only when he watches that show. Similarly, the kid was so excited everytime when a car crashed and went ablaze.

This is not only with the kids, the other day when an accident happened near beach, I found a crowd had gathered there. From the crowd, I found one of the boys talking to his friend ‘Dei Machan! sema accident da… Epdi skid aachu theriyuma… Naan video va FB la upload pandren… paaru!’ (He was ‘thrilled to see the accident and was excited about uploading the same in FB).

There was this cartoon that I saw in a magazine which was a perfect depiction, though a bit of exaggeration. A guy would be hanging downhill holding a weak  branch that would give up any moment. Seeing his state, one guy would rush to him as a God Sent Angel. While this guy heaves a sigh of relief, the saviour takes pics from different angles and says ‘Nice show! Dude’ and walks aways texting.

I feel somewhere down the line we are starting to get immune to violence. I am not sure when or how this transition was triggered. I still remember closing my eyes seeing a scene where a guy picks up a gun for shooting when I was in my primary classes and even today, blood sheds give a chill run through my spine. But the shocking reality is that, such kind of videos are the ones that are shared the most and liked the most. Every news channel was showing that ATM incident, time and again irrespective of the audience watching. I feel this is reflected in movies too. There is a line between being brave and accepting violence. I feel this line is slowly disappearing and getting immune to bloodshed is regarded as cool and brave.

Are we getting insensitive day by day? Is the value of human life losing its meaning? Are the nails of violence are slowly hammered into us? Points for us to ponder!

Image Source: Google

Whats so funny?

Within four-tenths of a second of exposure to something potentially funny, an electrical wave moves through the cerebral cortex, the largest part of the brain. If the wave takes a negative charge, we go Ha Ha Ha Ha  . If it maintains a positive charge,  we say PJ and turn away. But these days, the wave mostly remains positive and make people give a ‘mokkai’/ ‘PJ’ reaction and turn away even for a potentially funny stuff 

Of-late there are 4 kinds of reactions that are triggered when a joke is said

 ROFL   

 LOL 

 

 PJ  /Mokkai 

These reactions does not depend on the joke but depends on the mood of the receiver. LOL, ROFL and others were coined for online chats but thanks to the over exposure to watsapp/FB, people give the same reaction even in the real world. When a joke is told, they “say” LOL with a smile and carry on with the next work. I was shocked when my friend said “Lol! Good one” while I was laughing catching my stomach seeing something funny. When I asked her whether she didn’t find it funny, she gave me a look that said ‘Behave! We are in a public place’. I went  as most of the people in the gang belonged to her category. People who prefer saying ‘LOL’ rather than actually laughing-out-loud.

The other day I made my cousin, who is in her 8th class watch ‘Michael Madhana Kamarajan’ with me. I had convinced her that every scene is hilarious in this tamil movie of Kamal Hassan that can tickle your ribs. So finally she agreed to watch it with me. There was this scene where Oorvasi says ‘Neengalum cooku unga gramamum cooku’ with her palakaad slang and kamal gives a peculiar type of giggle (Translation will not work for this joke… So forget it ) I gave out a laugh and looked at my cousin with all pride of introducing her to an out and out funny movie… That one look of hers made me go Phuusss! She yawned at me and said ‘PJ’ and walked away busy with her watsapp 

It looked completely weird especially for me who has many a time got caught laughing uncontrollably in class. The worst part is I have  continued laughing even while standing out  I break out laughing any moment and once I start, its very difficult for me to stop…  When somebody says ‘Don’t laugh!’ my humour cells shout ‘Boost is the secret of my energy’ and double their productivity (YEA impact  ), thereby causing a laughter attack When am having that laughter attack, I actually catch my stomach and roll on the floor laughing with tears in my eyes. Many who don’t laugh after the joke, start laughing after seeing my laughter attack  But I really feel rejuvenated after that laughing attack 

I feel people have started taking life way too seriously. Laughing has become ‘Not-so-cooool’ these days especially with teen kids. When I showed an article to this teen kid near my house about benefits of laughing, she told me ‘ you can laugh when alone but not when outside or when you have people around. Our expressions look so eeewww when we laugh. Imagine your crush looking at you when you are laughing like that. Goodness me! ‘ I was looking at her with wide open mouth… Is there so much thinking behind simple laugh? This kind of logic was completely new to me plus I have never seen a mirror and laughed, to judge my expression *facepalm* I continued to question her. Every answer of hers made my mouth open wider. I can never think so much when something funny happens… I had a perception that laughing is an involuntary action till I spoke to her 

I just want to reiterate, laughter is a good medicine (I don’t mean the LOLs and ROFLs). It is very contagious, so when you are using this medicine you are not only curing yourself but also people around. When somebody sends you a joke and if you find it funny, laugh it out. Never bother about the place you are in, people around you etc etc. You are in a bus and your friend does something funny, you have all the liberty to laugh. People might give you weird looks, but who cares. It’s ultimately our day, why should we let others take control over it.

Life is short… Laugh to make it sweet!