Beerability and Coffeeness- Part IV

Of all the cities in India that I have been to, I can say with very little doubt that Chandigarh is the most gorgeous. Yes, gorgeous! The G-City will leave you mesmerised with a) the planning and layout of the whole place b) the spirit of the Punjabi people c)Mochas, the Coffee Shop at Sector 26 d)sight of some of the most beautiful women in our country and e) The India Coffee House at Sector 17.

In fact there are 2 of them in Sec. 17. But the one near the Wills Life Style store is my choice. And as I munched on idlies(they charge you 'per idly' here; so my friends from the south might find this awkward) and dosa, and later on back to back cups of coffee, I mentioned it to Hworang Tamang(a.k.a The RAT a.k.a Prat the RAT a.k.a Pratik) who was with me about something each of us have. It is true, I like to believe that every one of us carries around ourselves a bubble, or a smoke screen if you might call it that. And we spent the next half hour trying to clear out this smoke screen (pun, absolutely:)).

How would you like to step into the shoes of another person and look at yourself the way he or she see you. And this person who's shoes you would step into shouldn't be a close associate. You know who you are. You know what drives you, what scares you, what attracts you and what repels you. This is the 'real you' that only you and your first circle of people are familiar with. But to a person who observes you from far, this is not what he sees in most cases. You might be the most amicable soul that's living as of today, but somehow because of the way you dress, or address people, or simply carry yourself, the observer might see you as successful but intimidating. And he might even admire you that ways. Or the reverse is totally possible too.

I remember a girl that studied in my high school. She was a year senior to me then and my best friend wanted to get to know her. She was the prettiest of the lot and every guy I had spoken to had fantasised her at some time. But funnily, not one guy had summoned up the courage to go talk to her. I remember sitting down with my friend and telling him that this girl must be like someone who would brush off guys, what with the way she strutted around. I thought that she must be tired of guys staring at her and hearing out to all those compliments from both the sexes. I also told my friend that it would be very bold on his part to just go up and talk to her(he was still a junior, mind you).

And talk, he did. Ask her out, he did. Say yes, she did! As I learnt later on, this girl had the same fears, the same needs and the same hunger for compliments and recognition amongst other things as anybody else. She was so 'normal' that in fact within a week into their relationship, my friend was already playing the 'bigger guy'.But the smoke screen she carried around was so not her and she didn't even know it.

How is your smoke screen today? It is not possible for us to bare it all on the middle of the street and come by as our core self to every Tom and Harry. But it is worth taking the pains to explore your smoke screen; something that everyone other than you yourself can see.