Nice talking to ya!!!

"So, what you are saying is that you want people to come and talk to you?"

A lot of banter in the workplace is said to occur at the water fountain. It is not so at my office though, but that is mostly because of the fact that the water fountain is right in front of the restroom. So, people usually refrain from spending too much time at this specific locale at the office.

But that doesn't dither me from having this conversation right there. As I gulped down on a glass of water, I collected my thoughts on how to frame my reply.

"Yes"

"That's it? Just an 'YES!'. Come on man. You said you religiously follow this annoying thing. Now, you have to explain why you do it."

I have always been known for blurting out my secrets in public, but over the years, because of some very specific, bitter experiences, I have been compelled to curb that habit of mine. But seeing as to whom I was having this conversation with, I decided to let go of my better judgment. I actually wanted someone to take a through investigation of my theory.

"My theory to arrive at that conclusion is based upon my experiences. Whenever I have to initiate contact with someone, I feel awkward. I'm someone who has thought long and hard about personal space and absolutely values it. So unless I know that somebody is in such a mood so as to entertain my trespassing of their personal space, I feel uncertain about trying to strike up a conversation with them."

"That's a load of bullshit."

Ignoring that completely, I continued.

"Before the advent of the Whatsapps, social networking and phones, people  had only one way to contact each other - talk face to face. And believe me if you will, but it was one tough thing to do. You had to have guts to go up to that beautiful gal you know from college/work, and strike up a conversation. These days,  it's more of a guerrilla warfare kind of thing."

"Guerrilla warfare?"

"Yeah. You ping her at the place you stalk her, and wait for a response. It takes out the dangers of saying the wrong things; of having a prompt, unwelcome reply thrown at your face in public; of having your friends watch on as they wait to mock your impending failure; etc etc."

"So this applies to only talking to people of the opposite sex?"

No No No. I just used that as an the worst case scenario. Consider talking to someone you haven't talked to in a long time, like since school. Assume that you asked them about their school crush. It must be a decade after the event. You don't know how that ended for them. You are simply putting them in a bad situation. You will definitely end up having some pauses, some uncomfortable silences. You'll end up saying something and then regretting it."

"So?"

"So, I will say it again. Talking face to face to someone - anyone - takes a bit of courage, of having a mentality to efficiently tackle all the uncomfortable things that come up during the conversation. You can't log off, you can't risk a "seen at", you can't wait and formulate an apt reply. Everything is instantaneous, everything is risky."

"So what you are saying is that its cowardly to try and chat online?"

"No and yes."

<long pause>

"Should I prod you with a stick to get the answer out completely?"

"No, because I am not against people talking online altogether. It is an easy way to keep in touch with people and there is no need to get rid of it altogether. But one should make sure that it is not the only way that one keeps in touch with his friends."

"Yes, because if it is the only way you keep in touch with them, then slowly, a barrier is built. I believe that people always talk to each other standing behind a wall. They don't want to expose themselves completely in front of the other. You don't do that until you meet the one."

"So, while chatting online, in the language of short hand and smileys, you'll be building an extra layer of protection for yourselves. This makes you miss out on the actual feeling - their impetuousness, their tone of voice - which would have been easier to gauge if you had been talking to them in person."

"So you want people to use online methods to a lesser extent and start having actual conversations for a change."

"Yup."

"And you are only going to use direct methods for communicating with people from on??"

"That's what I plan to do."

"So does that mean you won't ping anyone in WhatsApp; poke them in Facebook; or send a chat in Gmail??"

"Precisely."

"So are you going to call or meet them and talk to them directly now??"

"Hopefully. I will have to build up the courage to break into another person's personal space though."

"So is your days of being an online stalker over?"

"I never said that."

"Haha. I should have known as much. Anyways nice talking to you. It's been great."

"Yeah. You are such a great guy."

"You are not so bad yourself."

"Haha.. Bye then."

"Catch you later."

As I walked away, I realized how much I had missed talking to myself.