Strike A Conversation

As usual I left office at my regular time to catch the 5.22 pm train from Norwood Central. It was overcast and looked as if it will rain heavily. If I was in India, with similar weather, it would pour cats and dogs. But this is Massachusetts and you should expect the unexpected. This region is called as The New England, and I will hesitate but agree that this region has been rightly named, and one of the reasons is that it can rain anytime.

As I have already mentioned in one of my past post, that it has been 3 weeks since I am going to Norwood. Over the last two weeks I have noticed a man, boarding the same train from Norwood Central Station as me. Later I would see him in the same eastbound blue line T train as me. The first time I saw him, I was like – hey, that’s the same man. On my way back home, I meet my roommate. One of those days I have also mentioned to him about this man who travels with all the way to my final destination, but we never spoke to each other. It was real bad on my part, especially since I am an MBA student, and networking should have become a part of me. But I didn’t take the initiative. For the sake of argument, I would convince myself that since I am an ambivert, it is not an easy task for me to strike a conversation with a stranger. But am I being fare? Is it the be all and end all of it? Should there not be any growth in me?.................There was.

One of these days I spoke to him. It was a very short conversation where we discussed about our train schedules. However, today “How are you doing?” was what I required to STRIKE A CONVERSATION. To my advantage was the train, who is almost on time each day, but today was delayed giving us more time to speak. I got to know him better. He was a American born Porto Rico guy. Isn’t it strange? I have come across these kinds of people many a times, but I guess this is what it takes to be in America and not have an American origin. He asked me if I was an Indian, only to tell me later that he works for a guy who is an Indian. I like the small and crisp conversation where we spoke about other thing including each others lives, his contributions to prepare Indian puja (offering prayers to God) and marriage preparation. I got to know today that there is an Indian Temple close to Norwood Station, and a huge Indian community who stay at Windsor Garden, which was quite provoking. The best part of the conversation was, I got to know from him that there is an Indian store, very close to our house. I am all excited, and look out for that place over the weekend. I was so excited that I had to ask him thrice for directions, to understand it correctly.

For you, it might be like any other conversation, but for me it’s otherwise. I am xenophobic. If a stranger tries to strike a conversation with me, he would have a hard time. In situations like this I have a weird feeling in my heart. I get nervous, my heart starts beating faster, and my hands start sweating. But that’s me. This also proves that after traveling for so many years in Mumbai’s local trains, I had no train friends.

What did I learn today? I realized its ok to talk to strangers; you don’t need to be nervous, because it’s just a conversation. You have the conversation and you move over once it’s over. That person is not going to stalk you after later, so be calm and relax. This is learning for every individual who is like me.