Thursday, May 31, 2007

People.Places.

Ever wondered what makes a person trace his eldest brother's wife's first uncle's neighbor's brother living in some corner of the US when he goes there? No distance or familiarity or the lack of it can stop one from getting hold of some souls on landing in a totally new place. That's pretty understandable too!Man craves for company, for more than anything else, security.Some level of security crops into the mind that he/she has some folks familiar to them that they can turn to when in trouble.
At my previous workplace which was relatively small,if people could avoid bumping into one another, it would be a great achievement altogether. Yet, day in and day out, most of the the encounters would go unacknowledged keeping the ostensibly unfamiliar people,unfamiliar. As were so many others,a person I saw mostly everyday ( of course leave,weekends,holidays etc claim for exceptions) never cared to talk to me anytime for over 1.5 years. Well, not that person alone to be blamed, I never cared a bit more to talk either.Well, that was a disease I gradually picked up after entering the corporate sphere.Fake a smile only to the people concerned,in the business sense, at the most.After all, how often can your ego afford to get offended for not getting a response for your greeting?Only later I got to know that it takes a lot from people to smile back!!
Coming back to the supposedly unfamiliar person,when I happened to see her at another place that was quite unfamiliar to me and very unfamiliar to her,she came forward to strike a conversation.Speak she did with so much comfort giving a feeling that I have known her for over 1.5 years.Unfamiliar places do make unfamiliar people familiar!! Strange are (wo)man's ways!! Of late,We reach out if need be and not for anything in the world,otherwise!!

8 comments:

catch 22 said...

True so darn true

~SuCh~ said...

"Of late,We reach out if need be and not for anything in the world,otherwise!! "
Guess its always been like zat.. Just that the needs have started to differ...

Rashmi Kantharaja said...

@catch22,
yeah!!

@~such~
People were approached if they needed help, no doubt,even before but I suppose, there were few who approached even to help! Now, not a probable thing because of the lack of trust we have or no interest to get into uninvited risks. We tend to keep the interaction on a need-basis, not for just socialising without an agenda behind it.

HaRi pRaSaD said...

Very true indeed. I have experienced it. There was this guy in my company who used to walk past me every now and then. Both of us used to see each other face to face but never once acknowledged the other's presence. But when we ran into each other in an altogether different company, we smiled and struck a conversations instantly!! Weird are the ways of the world...

Stallion said...

LOL...beautiful point! Same happened with a gal whom I never talked to in school. And when I met her outside after 3 yrs...she talked to me as if she knew me for 15 yrs...strange..LOL.

The Restless Me said...

@hari and @stallion.
So similar case! It happens everywhere :)

~SuCh~ said...

I wouldnt say its purely on need basis... when one is removed from a tighter circle and put in a wider area, one feels a relative familiarity with a former member of the closer community, atleast for a while, before the new is accepted and becomes old. More to do with the circumstances, than the need.


As for the socializing, that can never stop... just that the means are increasing shifting from the real to the virtual...And the motives, different, but not always selfish..

For instance, I dont like going to weddings and socializing with three generations of relatives or hob-nobbing with my neighbors, but I do enjoy commenting on your blog, and discussing things with someone I do not know beyond this blog, and haven't attempted to know either. Socializing on a different platform, and without an agenda.

Rashmi Kantharaja said...

@~such~
I totally agree with this point of yours.