Today, me and Abhi (my husband) are to dine at a family friend of my parents-in-laws. Now they have been calling us over for some 3 years now (since we got married). And we have been putting it off for some three years now.
Nooo, there is no problem with them. They are absolutely fine people. But the problem is that they are calling JUST me and abhi- not my parents-in-law. Now those of you who are wondering that why is it a problem i just want you to know that abhi has a special mechanism of ‘Shutting Down’ or rather ‘Hibernating’ when in unsolicited company. Which implies that as soon as we reach their place abhi is going to utter all of few 100 words like “How are you uncle?” , “Yeah, business is fine.”, “Grandparents are fine.” and the likes. After these few niceties he will get into his shell and the host and hostess whom i have not met for more than a total of 10 minutes so far will be left staring at me while abhi will finely be watching any non-sense that might be there on TV or fidgeting with his mobile.
I feel really sad for the host because they feel it is their duty to call us over for dinner but what they fail to understand is that there are NO conceivable topics of conversation between them and us. You see, I can’t possibly be telling them what i did today at work- like write this post :P, and if they want me to pay heed to why Smriti Irani’s comeback is a boon or bane to Kyunki… then i will have to imitate abhi!!
So, for those of you who have endured such moments of social torture please tell me how do i save myself?? I have a few ideas but i have tried them for three years now so gotta think of something else!
Ummm lets see- how about having a friend call up and tell me it’s an emergency and have me rescued??
I guess i am going nuts!!
ummmmmm, help me damn it!
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April 9th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Hey came to your blog from Nita’s.
The best thing to start off a conversation with the elderly is to talk about their children.
They just love talking about their Children. The more number of Children/grandchildren they have, the longer they would talk.
For you may be you should try talking with the aunty on her cooking
and your husband can talk with the uncle on daily events.
I am more of like your husband, its hard for me socialize when i land into some unknown crowd.
But try to build some conversation.
The idea is to get the other person talk when you are lost !!!
April 9th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Finally over with it.
Was not as bad as i expected, for two reasons
1. we could not find the way to their place and hence reached pretty late. so kinda had to kill lesser time
2. abhi had read this blog and hence he did not ’shut down’. on the contrary he was VERY enthusiastic about talking to them. Found one more side of my husband’s personality last night
April 10th, 2008 at 4:50 am
well, its good to hear that it went off smoothly one more advantage of blogging
April 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Apart from the brightly lit website I love the fact that you are so genuinely expressing your thoughts (and frustrations)
cool!
April 11th, 2008 at 12:26 am
You know I think that a lot of people call others over for formality’s sake. Perhaps your hosts too must have wondered what to talk about!
I too find these kind of occasions boring but one way of not getting bored is to ask to watch the news or something and then talk to them about what’s on TV. Most people don’t mind watching news with their guests.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I would presume that unlike before, it is now that people can sit and discuss about everything. Earlier, I remember people talking & socialising with only like-minded & similar thinking people. At least the educated have now learnt to respect others’ opinions. While I say that, I do not like such socialising too and make it a point to refuse point blank.