You think you knew, the people.

There are always a certain group of people whom we think we know, may be by the conversations we might have had or some similarities that might have been consistent. And we meet them, and realize that they are even better than they claimed to be or exactly the opposite. We high five and say “Where have you been hiding all my life?” or “God, I just want to get out of here, like right now. Please, get me out of here“. While some take a lot longer time to understand and get to know the real self of a person. Because let’s be honest, not all are what they seem to be. We all have stories we don’t want to talk about, things we can’t share, or don’t trust the person, just as yet. So, it is just fair to give people some time to understand the person we are. And when we do know the real person, we find that missing piece in our long hidden puzzle that seemed complete but never was. You find a friend for life. Or we really hope that we really didn’t meet this person. People are different, in so many ways. It’s only fair that we give the person a chance than to jump to conclusion at the first impression. First impressions, sigh. The notion that first impressions are the last impression. How we fall for it? How we believe in it, until we realize we were wrong.

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Mumbai ’15

I was in Mumbai last year at the exact same time. Why?  Yes, why was I even there? After a two month debacle at Kolkata, the extravagant hours of work and the humidity and literally no fun at all, I returned to Bangalore. But as usual, there was no work in the project I was working on. I was put on sidelines, with a note handed over to me saying “Until there is something new“. So, I stood by and waited for something to turn up. Meanwhile, I saw the Blogger Meet, where people from all over the country could come and meet. Wow, I thought to myself. But damn, it was not in my city.

Since I didn’t have much work (any work) in my hands, I decided to fly to Mumbai. What was I so excited about the meet? To be fair, I didn’t even look at the agenda. Seriously, I didn’t. It goes without saying that I don’t want to miss any of these meets. I had no plans of meeting anyone, because I didn’t know anyone, to start off with. But then I talked to a couple of people (bloggers) who were in the city of the meet, just to get a better picture at the city I was going to visit for the first time, the conveyance and what to look forward to. It was an almost last moment plan and the plan was made because I was bored and had nothing better to do.

I arrived at Mumbai and checked into my room. Wait, before I forget, there was a contest by one of the sponsors to get free accommodation as well. I, being the introverty guy, decided not to attract much attention and decided to get a room close by. What do you mean by introverty? I will be transparent about this. I attend blogger meets to meet people. Yes, I do hope to meet people and get to know them. But I being me, can not just break the ice and make blogger buddies. I am a lot different in actual than online. So, when people do meet me offline, they are taken aback. They see a completely different person. Eventually, I end up with an evening of memories, something to write about, zero new people, one T Shirt, most of the times.

Anyhow, I reach the venue just in time and an done with the formalities. I meet the first person I knew from Twitter. After the introductory greetings, the first person goes off with the group of people who knew each other. So, I am there again looking aimlessly at my phone pretending my best to be as busy as possible. I was busy alright, unlocking and locking my phone, and sometimes scrolling down the twitter feed. I scrolled so much without even reading that I reached the content that was 30 days old. The worst part was I was hitting “Favorite” (Yes, it was still a Star and was called a favorite then) to all the tweets which were over ten days old. I realized what I was doing when someone passes by me and I pretend to laugh as if there is some joke on my phone.

Eventually, I met another person, who kind of helped me navigate the other day through the city’s famous Mumbai Local train. I thought we both could get along well, because for some unknown reason, I just had a feeling. But this person seems to have had some serious problem. I saw him, he saw me. I waved my hand, he pretended he didn’t see, care. I waved again assuming that he didn’t see me, he saw and turned to the other side. I did feel it was very weird. Then after a few minutes, he sits beside me and meets me for the first time. We exchange introductory greetings and talk. He was already with a friend, who goes off with him during the high tea. He comes back to me after the lunch inquiring whether I had a portable charger, he takes it and goes off. My phone was already dying, because I was busy on the internet doing literally nothing, but pretending to keep myself busy. I don’t know whether he was worried that I would steal his friends or what, he was very closed about the people he knew. He stood me off a couple too many times and went away with the group of people he knew. I din’t mind because in a matter of speaking I was used to such kind of people. He could do whatever he wanted but there was no point in asking me to wait at someplace and go off with the group of girls. That was when I realized that people acted differently in real life as well with different people. I understood then and there the personality of a person. I was standing there looking aimlessly. Because the battery in my phone was also going to die. And I needed the battery to get a cab back to my hotel. So, I switched off my phone. But, but I had to look busy. So, I was scrolling on my phone and laughing because the joke was funny.

I saw this guy standing beside me a few feet away, kind of busy on his phone. I am exactly not sure but I think that it was pretty much it. He also dropped by from Bhopal just for the day and to meet Bruce Dickinson. Well, let me stop you right there and tell something. I had no idea that Bruce Dickinson was going to drop by. Like I said, I was completely unaware of the agenda of the day. I came to know after  I had arrived at the venue. I was so unprepared. So, we stood there awkwardly for about twenty minutes or may be more, I couldn’t say for two reasons. One, I didn’t have a watch on my hand. Two, my phone was switched off to save the battery. After 30 minutes, he broke the ice. And we started talking. We hung out later, met the other day. Believe me, we both were as introverts as it gets. But then again, we kind of became friends, right then and there. We still are. But the other guy whom I had known and thought we could get along didn’t turn out as the person I had expected, even later after the meet.

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I am participating in #NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and this is Day #6 post.

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ᴀᴊᴀʏ ᴋᴏɴᴛʜᴀᴍ, ᴍᴍxᴠɪ