~Conversations

Children in India are conversation starters; sometimes they are like the barbecued meat that makes its way through wine chalices and awkward talks at family gatherings. “Show them how to dance”, “Sing the song you were singing yesterday”, “How does dada laugh?” and so on. Come on, they aren't clowns and certainly it’s not their responsibility to start a conversation.

                                      ~

I recollect so many such instances as a kid when I was asked to dance, sing and imitate someone, I enjoyed it all because I loved the reactions I would get. It would be even more special when someone would ask me to do it over and over again. But as I grew older I realized, I was made to do uncanny things just so that some conversations would start at an otherwise boring gathering.

We take conversations very seriously. Sometimes we have got nothing to speak or ask at all but we still do because we are obliged to. And mostly we forget that conversations are natural, they are stubborn feelings which take time to evolve. They aren't time gap fillers or deep fried munchies cackling in a quiet room.

In my country, conversations are usually a step ahead of rocket science. Some people like to keep it exceptionally intellectual and some try to keep it humorous with plain tongue-in-cheek comments. That’s not conversation.

Conversations are best undiscovered. They are best to be kept silent. To have a conversation, you need to look into the eyes and create it. If not, it’s noise; unwanted and chaotic.

Sometimes conversations are loud yet meaningful, they have something that bring people together. The best ones start with no intention or inhibitions; they are free like the sky and blotted like the clouds. The most beautiful ones are simple, warm and quiet. The most humorous are full of wit and smiles; irrespective of your geographical existence.

Some are rigid and curt, like an unstoppable rain on a summer afternoon. Some are like mossy grass creeping on weathered window panes and others like a cup of lukewarm tea on the coldest evenings.

~What starts this blend of words and breath; is a simple ‘hello’. It’s not really rocket science~

Sometimes it may bring back a memory you buried along the way and sometimes it might leave you with yourself;
that’s all that a conversation does.