Social
media was flooded with people posing against moortis of Goddess Durga. Starting with Shashti people gave a close
insight into their daily life till Dussera. And I lay in pain. Of course part
of the pain was emotional since I miss home and whole hoopla of Durga Puja. Yes
it’s a bit deal in Odisha (also in Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh,
Assam – but then). So well, I missed home, being at home, being in that aura of
puja. I had plans to go to the local temple. They make a moorti. We went there last year and it was quite a good experience.
When we reached, the place was quite deserted and we had a very good darshan. Little did we know, the crowd
started making their way at 2000 (when we were making our exit :D :P ) and that’s
when all the cameras started clicking :D Being the un-social creature that I am,
I definitely was glad at the lucky escape. And part of the pain was physical since I was nursing a big allergy (dunno to what) and had rashes all over my hands and face with a mild fever. I was not the best of puja events, but then..
Talking of
un-social, there is another social event in the offing. Yep! Diwali! Another
reason for people to meet and hang around. I have a couple of ex-colleagues who
are close friends now. I planned to host a Diwali dinner for them. Being non-Indians,
a little glimpse into a popular Indian festival – I thought that would be a good
idea. But then there is a group of Indian ladies who live in the neighbourhood.
I had the “good fortune” of being added to one which consisted of 4 other members.
Now one of them is quite gregarious, and she suggested a get-together. Hmm,
fine I can deal with 4 more families for a couple of hours. I voted yes. Then someone
from the group added someone else, and someone else added someone else!
Whoaaa!!! Now the group had more people I didn’t know! Well, my vote
immediately turned to NO. But I consulted my friends – who know me, who can
feel me J
Most said “Go na”. “You might make
new friends”, “Kids will enjoy”, “Why not” were the arguments (BTW I asked 4
people, 2 of which were my mom and sis :D ) Then I asked the man – K. His heart
was into it, he doesn’t mind socialising. But he knows me, and how much I dread
it. So he said, fine say no. Halleluiah!! I politely excused myself. There were
a few awkward messages with the 2 people I knew from the group who tried to
find out “why” I wasn’t coming. How would I explain fear of crowd?!
But it left
me thinking. All the people I asked said yes! Something is wrong with me. I even
googled “ I don’t like socialising, is something wrong with me”. Got a load of
results!! Mostly dealing with differences between introverts and extroverts. Huh!
I have known I am an introvert, since I was 10.
Uh well,
that was one bullet dodged. But, all dark clouds come with a silver lining. And
yesterday had a beautiful silver one. Buses are an integral part of my life. They
take me to and from work. But the buses have been keeping an absolutely
horrendous schedule. Absolutely horrendous, delays on top of delays. So yesterday
as I left work and reached the bus stop, there were 3 buses waiting. But………. To
get to them, I had to go across a pedestrian crossing which was showing a big
red stop. I waited. Generally I would dart through, but vehicles kept coming,
so I had to keep waiting. Then when I finally reached the stop, all the buses
had left!! The next was 10mins away! And given the schedule, it could mean 20,
30 – god knows what. There was no option but to wait. And within the next 2
mins, a bus came. Now since the previous 3 buses had swept through all the commuters.
And this bus had just 4 people who didn’t need to get down. It was literally
like going in a personal vehicle. In the race my bus came second!!! Woo hoo! Small
joys! :D
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