Some people have amazing crave for talking. You are wondering that I belong to that category? No, I don’t. I talk to people only with whom I am comfortable. Else I keep my mouth shut.
Yesterday I met a lady in the train station, about 50-55 years, Indian by birth, but settled in UK for some time for sure. She boards the train at the same station as mine. I have noticed her talking to some person or the other always and every time it’s a new person she is talking to. Yesterday I was her victim. The train was full and both us were standing when due to some movement of the train she had to lean on me. She said “sorry”. I smiled and said ‘That’s ok’. Ouch, that was my mistake. She replied “Oh that’s a nice chance to know each other”. I didn’t know what to reply because people generally do not socialize much in UK.
Then and there without any inkling she started interrogating me. No matter how reluctant I was to reply to her queries, she somehow dragged the answers out of my mouth. “I guess you stay at xxx”, I said “Yes”; “I presume you work at xxx”, “Oh yes”; “Your husband works at xxx?” ;”Oh yes”. Meanwhile her phone rings and am happy that I am relieved. But alas no. “That was my daughter’s call”; ”Ok”; ”Do you have brothers and sisters?”; ”Yes”; ”How many?”; ”One each”; “They are married?”; ”No”; ”Do you have in laws?”…so went the conversation and by mid journey which could be around 20 min I came to know that she is in UK for 12 years, basically from New Delhi, has a son and a daughter, who lives in Cambridge who is a mother of a 4-month old baby and has just joined back to work. She has a mother-in-law to care, she wakes at 5:30 in the morning, returns back home by 5:30 in the evening working as a secretary and does all cleaning, shopping, washing, ironing , cooking etc etc.
At the end of conversation, I came to know one import aspect of her life, she didn’t tell me, but I realized it. She was hungry to talk. She was lonely in her life. Her kids had grown up and were indulged in their own lives. (I do not know of her husband, she didn’t mention him) She was facing this mid-life crisis and with the UK life style she didn’t have a friend with who she could talk to. So she talked to everyone she could, either in search of a friendship or to quench her thirst to talk to someone known or unknown.
No, I have no intention of befriending her to help her out. A talk with her would be an excellent trigger for a 420 Watts migraine. But this incident made me think; having all the things in life, she still felt lonely, Why? Is it the lost family bonding? I don’t know.
Yesterday I met a lady in the train station, about 50-55 years, Indian by birth, but settled in UK for some time for sure. She boards the train at the same station as mine. I have noticed her talking to some person or the other always and every time it’s a new person she is talking to. Yesterday I was her victim. The train was full and both us were standing when due to some movement of the train she had to lean on me. She said “sorry”. I smiled and said ‘That’s ok’. Ouch, that was my mistake. She replied “Oh that’s a nice chance to know each other”. I didn’t know what to reply because people generally do not socialize much in UK.
Then and there without any inkling she started interrogating me. No matter how reluctant I was to reply to her queries, she somehow dragged the answers out of my mouth. “I guess you stay at xxx”, I said “Yes”; “I presume you work at xxx”, “Oh yes”; “Your husband works at xxx?” ;”Oh yes”. Meanwhile her phone rings and am happy that I am relieved. But alas no. “That was my daughter’s call”; ”Ok”; ”Do you have brothers and sisters?”; ”Yes”; ”How many?”; ”One each”; “They are married?”; ”No”; ”Do you have in laws?”…so went the conversation and by mid journey which could be around 20 min I came to know that she is in UK for 12 years, basically from New Delhi, has a son and a daughter, who lives in Cambridge who is a mother of a 4-month old baby and has just joined back to work. She has a mother-in-law to care, she wakes at 5:30 in the morning, returns back home by 5:30 in the evening working as a secretary and does all cleaning, shopping, washing, ironing , cooking etc etc.
At the end of conversation, I came to know one import aspect of her life, she didn’t tell me, but I realized it. She was hungry to talk. She was lonely in her life. Her kids had grown up and were indulged in their own lives. (I do not know of her husband, she didn’t mention him) She was facing this mid-life crisis and with the UK life style she didn’t have a friend with who she could talk to. So she talked to everyone she could, either in search of a friendship or to quench her thirst to talk to someone known or unknown.
No, I have no intention of befriending her to help her out. A talk with her would be an excellent trigger for a 420 Watts migraine. But this incident made me think; having all the things in life, she still felt lonely, Why? Is it the lost family bonding? I don’t know.
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