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January 21, 2012

Getting familiar with the 'Unfamiliar Knock'

A lot happened over coffee! :)

I thought of the first e-mail that I had sent to him while I parked my Access.
And here I was, standing just a few steps away from the most common café of the town for a first planned meet.
I went in and chose the second table facing my back to the door. It is awkward to continuously see the door ['wait for someone'.]
I scanned around. There were less interesting people. Opposite to me, on the couch, was a couple lost in their talks. Rather, lost in the boy's talks. Yeah, the boy was doing the talking and the girl was occasionally giggling. A table away, two business men were talking. Gujjus they were. One of them was telling another about the recent property he had bought in.
I sent him a quick text message-'Reached. :) Where are you?'
'Will be there in five :)' came the reply.
Aah! I'm-prepared-and-confident artificial smiles those were. At least mine was. The waiter brought me the menu card with a big smile and an evening greeting. I could not reply back with more than a nod. Maybe, I was a li'l nervous but peculiarly, I was lost in some thoughts- How on Earth was I here?
I had never done this before. I had never even thought of being friends with a complete stranger. It felt creepy for some moments. I panicked. I fidgeted. I worried.
These thoughts that crept like a vine on me, made me wanted to leave that place at once. Nevertheless, I comforted myself with all the love (and fascinating excuses) and tried to look calm. I turned around at the door just to find him entering the cafe. We half smiled at each other. In the time, he took his seat.
"Hi!"
"Hi!"
Silence. I choked. He didn't speak either. For the next two minutes, I guess we both were just thinking what to say and where to start from.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, I had thought in my head all the way while coming from home. And neither I had planned and practiced about anything regarding this meet. What to do now, what not to do and my silly nightmares about this meeting-was all that started making a house in my mind.
We were in talks for quite some time now over calls, texts, chats, Facebook inbox messages. But man! It was hard when it became a face to face conversation.
Finally, we broke the ice. But trust me, those two to three minutes seemed like an hour to me.
We started talking. Regular stuff. Slowly we opened up and conversed like good old friends. From discussing about the menu of that café and comparing it with another to telling him about the Gujju men, we had a great chitchat. We ordered and chatted for another half an hour over the sizzling brownie.
I had decided not to draw conclusions from the first meet. But still, concluded one thing. It was about his smile. A wonderful smile it was. Oh, it is!

One thought that was echoing throughout was about his amazing vibes. He made me feel extremely comfortable. He didn't try to flatter me or blow his own trumpet. Polite, courteous, honest. He gave me ample space and whenever I spoke, he listened to me patiently. 
I too had a slight suspicion (like you) about it. But no, it wasn't a make-up for that first meeting or for that impression. And I'm sure as hell about this because I've now known him for more than 7 months and all this while, he has been just the same- just himself, just an awesome friend. Otherwise, it never takes long for a mask to fall off.

14 comments:

  1. Good writeup!!!:)
    I wanted to read it further in every line. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Vihangi dee for your response.. It means a lot :)
      And this was a big compliment. *Too happy* :D
      BTW, this was in continuation to this post- http://www.priyankadharamsi.in/2011/07/unfamiliar-knock.html
      Read this too :)

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  2. amazingly written! You took me to the moment and I too could feel butterflies in my stomach :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Garry :D
      This compliment means a lot. :))

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  3. Beautifully written..every line!!
    your writing technique literally takes the reader to the actual scene! :)

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  4. Brilliant piece! I started living that moment! You've captured the feeling beautifully and it kinda makes me happy thinking about what an amazing start you got for this friendship. *touchwood* :)

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  5. Adorable it is..Must say,you almost took mee to the scene!! :)
    Waiting for your next writeup..

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  6. Though not totally related, it still relates.

    http://imsri.blogspot.in/2012/06/silver-strings.html

    PS: Fiction, of course. :)

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    Replies
    1. :D It took me back to this day and today!
      Read and commented. :)

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