A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.
– Mark Twain

We are advancing with each day and even though we are coming closer in terms of distance, we did actually (not figuratively), but we are not getting closer in reality. We are losing the touch of the real world, the things that happen around us, the people, the nature. No? We do look around! We look around and we see the smog, says the person from Delhi. We look around and see the poverty, says the rich person, or that one rare person who actually does care. We look around and see a bright future, says the optimistic dreamer. We look around and see how a great nation that might not be great anymore, says the person from USA. We look around and see the nature, the beauty, the things that matter, says the person who sold off his mobile – laptop-earned money-left his job-and backpacking in some remote hills. Each and every one has their own definitions of looking around and watching what’s happening. It’s like they say, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder“. Don’t we all agree? But though we look around, we just see things but don’t actually see them the way they should. And then there came the technology. One forward messagee and everything, everyone goes down to hell. We are so engrossed in this facade of social acceptance and social approal, trying to get famous or viral. But didn’t we loose the essential prospect, that there is more to social media. There is this world that we still haven’t explored. Perhaps, one day we will realize this. And what if, that day, even if we wanted to explore, we couldn’t because we missed our only chance when we had it. So, wait, look around, see just not what matter, but what doesn’t matter, because the things that we think don’t matter actually do matter. 

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The other day I was having my usual coffee in the morning. I had gone through the blog post I posted the other night and found some stupid mistakes which I thought should be corrected as soon as possible, which was right now. So, I opened the WordPress app and selected the blog post. The very moment I get a pat on my shoulder and I look around to find a friend of mine who then joined me in the morning refreshing process. Though I am not sure whether Green Tea is qualified as the morning refreshener, but lets just cut it some slack. I put my phone down, and get about with our rather very serious conversations ranging from bans to intolerance to Goa trip. I had this urge to correct the blog post, but I know how rude it would be to the person in front of you if they are speaking and we are neck deep into the phone. It is just plain rude. The least I could do was have a decent conversation, which might not seem like a big deal, but it does tell a lot about ourselves as a person.

But then the other day, I was busy on my mobile again as usual. My mobile and I have this relation where I can’t stay with out it, even if it just wants to just take some rest. I think it’s called abusive relationship..Nonetheless, I was on Twitter and there was a discussion on blogging, which is the only place where I pretend like I know stuff and get the most likes or Retweets to my tweets! Two is a huge number for me, ok? (Of course after counting mine). I was on my way back and hence was in bus sitting beside my friend and we were basically talking, normal talks. I did tweet inbetween the conversation gaps. But then I thought there were gaps in the conversation because I was using my mobile and not giving enough attention than what was actually required. Also, I felt like I could fill the gaps with something other than tweets, like talk. I put my phone down and continued with the earlier topic or with a new one. But it so happens that the person on my right and left, both colleagues and friends were of the same ethnicity , which meant they both spoke same language which I was unaware of. In a matter of speaking, I am a foreigner. Now, I don’t know whether this just happens normally or I was the third unnecessary wheel, because they start conversing in their native tongue. I was conversing with them in my broken English, they were also conversing in their fluent English until about that point where they go all gibberish on me. Frankly, I have no idea as to what I should do, sitting in between obstructing their path of view, whether I should laugh when they laugh and pretend like I understood or whether I should move to the corner and let them carry on with the conversation or just ignore them and pick my phone up and get those two likes that I usually never get. The funny part is when they do talk about something funny, they ask me whether I understood. Are you fucking kidding me? I reply no, to which they explain the conversation in English to me. Hahaha, because they completed the translation, and it wasn’t funny but they laughed, so I also laughed.

A word of advice to people who have people from different ethnicity, please be a little considerate for the people who don’t speak your language. You have no idea how difficult it is to try to catch the one-two words that happen to be English and try to construct the whole sentence. Consider this as a courtesy to the people around. Unless of course you are abusing the people and don’t want them to know. So, please be a little mindful and help the people around understand you better.

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I am participating in #NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and this is Day #11 post.