Just A Thought

What have you heard?

Yamin Tauseef Jahngir

Susanne Riber Christensen

It is not always hard to imagine yourself in an environment where you think that you don't belong. To elucidate on this matter, let's say having a conversation with someone who is completely unknown to you. It is an amazing thing you would find in us that we are capable of stirring up a chit chat even on the weirdest of topics and still can continue to talk for hours with a stranger. Some of us will relate to an issue on a personal level while others will just exaggerate it to an extent when you no longer find any interest to have the talk. The context of so called 'bragging' touches our lives every now then and whether you like it or not, you get to be a part of it.

With technological advancements we have gained access to everyone's lives now and henceforth secrets are not only confined in letters or whispers, but rather are being dealt on a social perspective. We don't care of the fact whether people like us or not, but we do love to stretch an incident and would do so until we become the center of attention. As for men, many feel insecure of their physique or their career and you would find at least one in a crowd to talk about his stories with the opposite gender and his success or failures. As for the girls, it's a mere conversation of 'bling blings' and what not where envy is the prominent criteria to portray their effeminate behaviours. I even got to hear about a gold studded saari on a wedding and probably then realised of the level of patience people must have, one for listening and the other for tolerating as well.

Exaggeration knows no boundaries and in our part of the world, we are the brag rats. Much often you would find a boy who would mention about his entire family history connected to politics or Harvard and as overwhelmed as we easily get, it is not that hard to let the boy get some space in our little friend circle. A six hundred dollar Nino Ricci purse would of course be a girl's fantasy and who wouldn't love to hear out stories from a person having a rare collection, although you may never get to see it. Why? Because it is expensive, duh! While you are still having difficulty in pulling the strings to make a complete circle of such statements, there are others who are unique in making up stories. “Aamar Chacha 1000 feet pahaar theke porechilo, kintu daarai gechey!” I kept on staring at the person who once said that to me with a beaming smile and for an instance I thanked the Supreme Being for making my grey matter work to have a cognitive conclusion. I, on the other hand, thought of making him think otherwise by saying, “Aami jani, aami okhane dariye chilam…” I sometimes wonder about these people and how they get such confidence in defending themselves when it comes down to such obnoxious remarks. Living in such thoughts are also misinterpreted as a sign of psychosis by the majority and people who are involved can be judged wrongly at times. Some don't understand that the circumstance may not always favour them and people won't give an 'I like' just the way they do in facebook to whatever others go on blabbering about.

You got to be a self-critic and need to analyse your own flaws and behaviour pattern whenever you are in a situation or amongst known faces. It is important how you behave and also what you go on saying, whether your statements are concrete and can you open up a decent discussion. Reading habits can grow judging skills and you will think twice before addressing something. That way, you are growing up as more responsible and showing the right acts of maturity. No one really bothers to listen to your been-there-done-that things for too long, so think wisely to maintain your popularity in your group. At the end, what really matters is whether people do believe you on what you are saying and also whether you believe it yourself.