CONVERSATIONS

There is a marked difference between talking to someone and making a conversation with them. Everyday we meet acquaintances and our friends but rarely do we ‘talk’ about anything more than what pertains to our daily lives. We meet someone, say hello, make small talk and move on. We hardly if ever try to relate to anyone and strike up a decent conversation regarding more than the daily banter, a conversation where we share our thoughts and try to make sense of our lives.
Such conversations are rare, more so because we are so busy with meeting deadlines and trying to get through the tasks before us that we sub-consciously forget that as humans we should converse, not just communicate. Then one day, when it all gets too much and we need to release all the steam building up within us; we manage to strike up conversations with some special people. These people are generally among our closer friends or relatives and what strengthens our bond with them is the conversation.
These conversations take place in weirdest of places. Sometimes, you happen to talk to your loved one on the phone, sometimes it is a friend you meet at length over a cup of coffee, occasionally you end up conversing with a total stranger. Although these conversations generally leave us elated and feel much lighter by helping us shed some baggage, we cannot willfully arrange for them on a periodic basis. They are sporadic and take place only when you are not happy. You cannot make a meaningful conversation with someone if you are happy and content with yourself.
Some of my satiating conversations (in ascending order) take place in the car of a classmate. That has not happened in the past few months since we passed out of college and will not happen in the near future because the dude is fleeing the country very soon. Damn I am gonna miss him!
The third most satisfying conversations are in the smoking zone of e-square that happen erratically as neither of us is sure as to when we might remember each other. We meet once every 1-2 months but in spite of not having communicated with each other over extended periods, when we meet the conversations take off as if we had never stopped talking and then always end with a shared bowl of soup at the Chinese tapri opposite the famed multiplex. (Yes, the both of us are stingy and see no point in wasting a small fortune on something that is available at the price of peanuts!)
The next is with a friend whom I have known for the better part of my life viz. 20 years. Although we meet with more disparity than regularity, he is the one person who can always lay it out straight for me. His is the only opinion that can change my stubborn decisions.
The most satisfying conversations I have ever had have been on my bike with my best friend. We speak with each other at lengths on such long drives that others would consider a worthless waste of fuel! Somehow, although our meetings take place with ferocious regularity, neither of us ever seems to run out of subjects to talk on (nor does my bike seem to run out of fuel! Touchwood). Yes, it is a girl but what really helps is the fact that our relationship can never rise beyond a platonic stature. I suppose that is what keeps us from bickering about each other as also turning it into a relationship surrounded by a web of lies and deceit!
If you have read this and not liked it, it is alright I did not intend to get a good review. I have written this piece as a tribute to the four of them…