Bittersweet
People Some people talk and talk and never say a thing. Some people look at you and birds begin to sing. Some people laugh and laugh and yet you want to cry. Some people touch your hand and music fills the sky.
What’s your favorite hangout? I amuse people when I say that my bedroom is my favorite hangout and that books are my best friends. In any case, my recent explorations into the world of ‘hangouts’ have led me to form some remarkably surprising hypotheses.
Number one, that people are convenience keepers – meaning, in effect, that they stitch solutions based on their situations. Recently, we visited this place, a cafe. It was serene, peaceful, lovely. God, it was a wonderful place. I was amazed by how the place emitted sophistication. We don’t want to go into the details of the word ‘sophistication’. Unless you want to be reading a particularly long-winded article. No, that’s for another day.
The place was brimming with people, all dressed up and neat. Whilst I was sitting on the cushioned chair by the rosewood table, my mind was flooding with exceptionally refined, elaborate words. A side effect of the poise of my surrounding, perhaps. Anyway, I was observing the place, contemplatingly, eyeing the people with profuse interest. My father told me that they came there to relax, to work in peace, or such. Basically, people came there for a break from their usual scheduled lives. I, on the other hand, couldn’t relax. Somehow, the ambiance felt glazed to me. I was getting the feeling that some of these people wouldn’t, for the most part, dress up with such great effort, or wear all this makeup regularly. They did it to impress one or more. That’s the case with us all, of course – this is just a general statement of observation.
I was keenly eavesdropping (don’t get the wrong idea, I never do this usually, hehe) on the rather comical conversation of two ladies at the table next to ours. Somehow, it didn’t feel so much like eavesdropping. It was like they wanted everyone to hear how awesome their lives were. It was quite entertaining. They went on and on about how this city was so beautiful, and that one of them had only been here once before. They were undoubtedly enjoying themselves very much. And then, there was all that formality talk about the family – ‘How is everyone doing at home, otherwise?’ In any case, my point is this – people are the official keepers of convenience. They are creatures of adaptation. I am too, but maybe to a smaller extent? Oh, I can wish! We all are specimens of adaptation, I tell you!
You know, this is one of my favorite areas of discussion, talking about people, that is? I should perhaps learn more on the lines of psychology. So, as I sat there, I noticed some really plump cats strolling around. My eyes fell on the black-suited waiters and their pretty white shirts. I noticed couples eating subtly after bouts of shopping (literally, there were some amazingly huge bags, one of them titled H&M, and I knew it was not just normal shopping, it was a mega spree of purchasing). I watched as the seasoned bamboo enhancements swayed with the breeze. Also, I noticed the foundations of the handsome wooden tables carved in the shape of flamboyant creepers.
Then, I happened to chance upon a table with three men, all engrossed in some work. They were looking keenly into a laptop, their eyebrows furrowed. It appeared that this was one solid work location for them.
I learned something important then. Who are we to judge anyone? Maybe this battleground of ironed shirts and lipstick-clad people was a discharge for some people. I was happy that I at least found out where I was most happy – at home. But maybe for others, this wasn’t so. Maybe all this wasn’t fraudulent like it so appeared to me. Or perhaps some people found pleasure in someplace fictitious. I find pleasure in talking about fictitious places. They find pleasure in being there. Now, when I think back to it, I can say I rather enjoyed the head-turns I received on clambering noisily out of my chair, or eating like there was no tomorrow. I enjoyed the animated conversations and the guessing of what may be happening in these people’s heads.
I’ve often thought about this when I travel. I am not the biggest fan of traveling, I’ll tell you that. And I’d wonder what in heaven’s name people gained from pressurizing themselves to wake up at 4 and 5 in the morning to get on a clammy airplane full of drowsy human beings. But again, as I’d said in a previous article, it’s to each their own. So who we hang out with, where we hang out – it’s all so peculiarly different for everyone. And, where will we be without difference in this world? Utopia. And is utopia possible? NO.
I drew some great, enlightening conclusions from being in a hangout that I thought was more disciplinary action than hanging out. So if you ask me now – do you not like going to restaurants to eat? – I would say, ‘I like eating’. As for the other part, why can’t we just get it to come home, right? That’s maybe not so for you. And that’s what’s fantastic about human nature. It’s all punishingly different. And when it comes together, there’s chaos. Nonetheless, there’s a pinch of sweetness to it as well.
“The more one judges, the less one loves.”
Ain’t this some bittersweet truth, now?
― Honoré de Balzac
