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Monday, November 10, 2014

Close Encounters


This is a strange world! Right from our birth till we come to our senses and start understanding our surroundings we meet literally hundreds of people with progression of time! For a baby the mother and her loving looks, the cuddles and gestures of many who come to meet him are the first encounters with humans. As we grow and step out to school we come across the real world where some are friendly, others rude, harsh or even hostile  The process continues for the  rest of our lives in every walk , be it college, office, market place or anywhere for that matter! I would like to share some very interesting characters that form a part and parcel of my life besides my immediate family, like for most of us!

In the morning I come across a lady who looks like starlet, Monica Bedi and is a fitness freak! She is on the move in the stadium adjacent to our house and walks straight unconcerned of the world around her! Then there is a couple let’s call Mrs and Mr Gupta who are in early sixties! Mrs Gupta is very friendly and never forgets to wave a hello with broadest smile whenever she sights us but the husband who was an aviator once moves curtly ahead of her, to best avoid an impulsive conversation or worst being infected with a contagious disease that we may carry! Then there is a gang of old military veterans ,some are familiar faces that would be discussing the latest national news be it swearing in of the new ministers in the present government, or why the government is still dragging its feet to release a new slab of DA despite the ever rising price index! This saves me the trouble of reading the newspaper where I am likely to come across some grisly news of a recent murder, a financial scam or who are on the invitees list of Salman Khan’s  sisters forthcoming marriage!

On way to the office the gang is fixed who spend most of the time discussing the internal politics or new job opportunities and once in a while including me in the conversation if they have to know something like whether Brazil has more area than India, as if I am Encyclopedia Britannica and ‘Google search’ rolled into one perhaps seeing more dark strands of grey hair than them collectively! Next comes the best part of the day which is a session in the Gym where no one my age is there besides half a dozen well-toned office girls and ladies besides three or four youngsters trying hard to flex a muscle to add inches to their biceps! As I am generally early to grab the treadmill the late arrival younger girls walk up and rolling her eyes asks how long it will take for me to finish?  It is perhaps the best part of the day where no one has ignored me all together!

While walking down the corridors, of the office several times in a day I come across many faces that are familiar and some stop to say hello, some engage in a small conversation, and a few  who have moved up the ladder, glance from the sideways and move on hurriedly as if they never saw me! If I am able to engage in chats it is termed as ‘networking’ in management jargon! By the end of the day when I fall on the bed, I realize how boring this world would be if I had not come cross a few who are always complaining, some scheming, others discussing other people lives as if they are more important to their existence than anything else! I am not including so many more that I follow regularly on blogs who add so much more charm to the life.  Among all the fascinating creations of the god, I feel  humans are perhaps the best!
PS: Image Kind courtesy Google

31 comments:

  1. All humans are the best...Depends how do you look at them because they say that one judges others by their own standards.
    Talking of treadmill...How would you react if I tell you Rekha was on the treadmill at Taj's Land End and I was there too?
    I am a human and I am a good man .

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    1. Quite right Mr Chowla! My instant reaction to your meeting Rekah is that you fell in the right company:)

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  2. Nice blog.......its nice to see someone who observes so much about humans (like me:p)

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    1. Thank you Vikram! I am still learning to observe:)

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  3. Until college, it was fine. People we met were normally not competing against us. Now it is a bit different, and will take some time to get used to.

    If there were a lot of girls at my gym, I would surely go early and use a treadmill for hours :-)

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    1. Do find a good gym in your neighborhood lest you be deprived of an opportunity, KK!Then you would not have to worry about the competition also:)

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  4. a sad fact of life sir, people change.. especially as you say in the last that those who have risen the ladder.. they forgot the days .. I have lived through some experiences being in uk.. when people needto come over and have a roof on head for the first few weeks of coming and now the same people .. well what can i say..

    and you are right life will be boring if we did not have such people ...
    That is why they say
    gulshan ki fakat foolon se nahin
    katon se bhi Zeenat hoti hai
    jeene ke liye is duniya main
    GAM ki bhi zaroorat hoti hai :)

    Bikram's

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    1. Agree totaly with your observations but we need to remember that abandunce only gets more by sharing! Only petty people have a limited horizon so do not worry, you will always have plenty of happiness to share, Bikram! A big thanks for that value added poetry:)

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  5. a sad fact of life sir, people change.. especially as you say in the last that those who have risen the ladder.. they forgot the days .. I have lived through some experiences being in uk.. when people needto come over and have a roof on head for the first few weeks of coming and now the same people .. well what can i say..

    and you are right life will be boring if we did not have such people ...
    That is why they say
    gulshan ki fakat foolon se nahin
    katon se bhi Zeenat hoti hai
    jeene ke liye is duniya main
    GAM ki bhi zaroorat hoti hai :)

    Bikram's

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  6. It was good to read about your everyday observations. Life would be really boring we didn't indulge in that.

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    1. Very true, this is one of the best past times if you are alone, to observe people and surroundings:)

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  7. But from this medley of sad, boring, selfish, caring, complaining bunch we have something to learn

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    1. Totally agree Purba! Learning of any kind never ends:)

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  8. And yet we end up learning so much from this throng of people that we see Day In and Day Out. For I truly believe that everyone that we meet ends up teaching us something !

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    1. You said it Ruchira! The most mundane things become interesting with just a change in perspective:)

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  9. There are too many of us out and yet we are all so different. Like you said...we are fascinating creatures!!!
    This also reminds me that I must go to the gym.

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  10. Life is really interesting if we look closely to all these creatures around us. And seriously Indian media survives only as paparazzi, why and who on earth wants Salman sister's wedding guest list.

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    1. Right you are, Saru! So much of time and energy we have for most irrelevaant things:)

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  11. Such a simple post but one that speaks a lot about human nature. We touch as many people as we are touched. In cosmic terms, it is networking too, since we never ever meet or interact with another person unless there is some past karma that needs to be discharged one way or the other.

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    1. It is nice to see you back after a long break Zephyr, and that too with a dimension which is so true and I had overlooked the same:)

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  12. We learn tremendously by observations and your sharing made it more so.

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  13. What a lovely post. Life is amazing, isn't it?

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  14. Its these people who we meet regularly, initially they become nodding acquaintances, slowly we start saying hello and how are you, than they become friends, while some people continue to remain strangers.

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  15. A big thanks for reading my posts, Ashwini and with such lovely comments:)

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