There is nothing I like better than the fact that there are so many people around and that all of them have so many tales to tell. I really don't care whether what they are talking about is interesting or not. But at times, just the look that they have on their faces when they believe that people are enjoying their story is worth the effort.
And honestly, for me, it has never been much of an effort to like what one has to say. Whether it is Arzaan Khambatta's father in law, who is the sweetest Parsi old man ever by the way or Madhab, who is Aki Narula's assistant, and he was a complete sweetheart, and mind you, he was very very efficient, the uncle who run the 'Energy' stall at Churchgate, the gatekeeper uncle in my office (who is absolutely adorable), or even the guy who cut my hair at the salon.

I mean i seriously did not know much about the story of how Parsi's fled from Persia, only to come to Gujrat and make this country their home. They are not even allowed to marry outside their community which I think is crazy, and there are only 70,000 of them around the world. Or how the Energy uncle (as I refer to him jokingly), came all the way from this small town in Kashmir and how that place is like heaven..! I can practically picture the entire Kashmir with his eyes.

There is a story attached with everybody, it's just that nobody has the patience to stop and listen. And then we talk about how nobody has any time for any body. It's no big deal to listen to what someone has to say while you sip a soft drink, or how a cab driver gets some of the most annoying customers who give him a Rs 500 note early in the morning. How the hell will he have a change for that at the start of the day! People, please carry change while you travel.

And I absolutely adore the owner of this joint called, Britannia in town, which has the most scrumptious food that has ever gone down my food pipe. He must be more than 75 and he still take the orders himself. And he has a joke and small poem for everything!

Most of my friends tell me that it's absolutely lame of me to start talking and being nice to strangers and they find it really immature, and that is putting it nicely. (Stop acting like a dumb-fuck is what one of them says, man I hate that word, if anybody has guessed who am I talking about, please pass along the message). Honestly, I couldn't care less. I don't GIVE a fuck to what someone has to say. I love talking to these folks. There is so much to know, I mean I never knew the guy at L'Oreal can cut hair in three minutes time, until he told me about it, about 20 times, repeatedly.

Maybe, that is one reason why I hate to travel with any one, people are too judgmental, and they are too scared or rather ashamed of being stupid. What they don't realise is that there is no fun in life, unless you are a little crazy.

Life is much easier when you have some one to talk about something that you don't know already than to quiz over the issues of your life, or to listen to what your friends or family has got to say.

Call me crazy, but there is no way I will ever tell Energy uncle to shut up, or my gatekeeper uncle to not tell me, 'it's pouring real bad, better carry an umbrella' when I can make that sense on my own, or the little kids who sell stuff on trains to stop talking, or the rickshaw uncle I once had a conversation with while I was waiting for a friend. (Who was a good forty minutes late)

It's things like this, that life is made up of after all. Isn't it?