Interesting stories

The other night we all roomies were sitting outside in the grass in our backyard after a good dinner, when Shashikant said, "Sid yaar, kuch bol. Tu kuch bolta hi nahi hai, hamesha chup chap baitha rehta hai." And the first thing that crossed my mind was - 'How odd! Tell this to my hostel friends back at IIT, and they may probably split their sides laughing.'

But yes, it is true. I have kept more to myself here in Cornell as against my usual outgoing nature. Well, I would say that it is partly because I am taking this experience here as a learning experience and take every opportunity to observe and learn, and hence, am not much of a participant out here, and partly because I think I really don't have anything much interesting to talk about! 'How odd' you may say, or probably not; I am not sure how many dull folks exist out there. But it is true; unlike most people who I know, who always have something interesting to say and tell, I am rather the stodgy species.

I should point out here that it isn't my life that is dull - I do have interesting things happening in my life; well, at least they seem interesting to me, but I somehow don't seem to document them well enough to recall later and then narrate at ease. I happened to read a post by Scott Adams on his Dilbert blog the other night, where he spoke on this very issue. He says he tries remembering key issues from any interesting anecdotes, and can recall the whole situation from these. I feel I should give this a try; maybe that way I will have something interesting to say the next time I sit in a group where the pauses would have the better of the speeches.

I do recall one incident though back from my school days - one that stands apart from the rest in my memory. There was an essay competition in our school, and I had worked hard on preparing a great essay, which I was sure was a winner. The day before the competition, (as was my usual habit) I took my essay to school to show it to my friends, partly to enjoy the awestruck looks on their faces and partly to tell them in their face - 'Ditch it guys, you don't stand a chance!' I guess the rest of the day went pretty normally, as I don't recall much from that, but when it was time to go home and I was repacking my bag, I noticed that I had lost my essay! I searched everywhere, scoured my neighbour's school bag too, but the essay was nowhere to be found. Sad and dejected, I returned home, and sat down to prepare another essay. I was cursing myself all the while for having been so stupid to take that essay to school - should never have done that at all! And as I was about to start writing another essay, I took out my notebook to note the topic again, to note that down in the essay. And lo! Wow! The topic read 'India's 50 years of independence!' I smiled looking at that topic, and thanked god for making me lose the essay I had written earlier.

The essay I had written earlier wouldn't have qualified - I had mistaken the topic for 'India's 50th year of Independence'. I smiled. Partly because I was saved. Partly because the person who stole my essay was doomed. I learnt one thing from the whole incident though - never to be a showoff again. And I have also learnt one thing now - I should remember most interesting things that happen in my life, lest people mistake me for a dumb person.