the mission of exploration

One day in August:

Yesterday was a nice day. It was a good day.

Chat with D, a mature student in our class. Organic meeting, we talked for almost an entire hour. I was at the campus cafe, she came along, sat on the other side of the large table I was at and then I said hello then we started talking. I did make a point to greet everyone I meet with a friendly smile and to remember their names at some point in my life. And so I did and I’m very pleased to have discovered that a simple hello and a smile can lead to some really pleasant and unexpected friendships. So, D and I already kind of knew each other. But it was the first time to actually have a proper conversation. Anyways I really loved the fact that two very different people, can interact as individuals. Different age, background, culture and life experience. I always liked the idea that you are more than the groups that you belong to. And we talked about those things too. I have a tendency to want to prove that proposition to be true. I would sometimes go out of my way to befriend someone, just because they are of a very different background to me.

I came home, content, about the fact that I get to have all these conversations with so many different kinds of people through work and uni and started thinking more (as I was chopping tomatoes for my Shrimp Biryani to be more exact. It turned out beautifully. So delicious). I thought that I really like people. Not all the time, I love my alone time too but I like chatting to people. I like it when they reveal themselves earnestly. People are to be explored. There are so many facets to a person which they sometimes don’t even know about. It is the task of the companion to bring out and discover the various sides of people. It is so interesting that people are not just one person. That is why they can be infinitely interesting. And I like to believe that on rare occasions, it is possible to create a whole new characteristic in a person.

If you find someone boring, think again because you’re wrong. You probably have not put enough effort to see the charm in the piece of art sitting in front you. It’s so embarrassing the number of times I labelled someone in a negative manner only to discover later how so much more they were than what I, with my limited understanding, saw in them at a particular time. So arrogant of me to think that I could know anyone fully based on what was ‘visible’.

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

I am so excited to yet again talk to some more people today, at work. I change work sites as part of being a locum, and I have just loved the part where I get to meet so many different kinds of people each time I go to a different pharmacy. I genuinely feel so happy and lucky and intrigued to talk to all of them. Today I will be seeing S and A, both quite a bit younger than me, both lovely and gentle and quiet. I shall go about now, and see what they have to say today.

p.s. But if you ask what the highlight of yesterday was? a legend in the field of law, professor, our lecturer, bought me a coffee yesterday. Being a kind gentleman he is, after seeing me waiting in line in front of him, he shouted me a coffee saying ‘you’re only a student’ lool. I was sooo stoked. As I said to my classmates a multiple times, we are so lucky to have him teach us.