Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Blah blah blah

I am not a conversationalist. You talk 100 words at me and I reply back in maybe 5 or less, sometimes in mono-syllables. I hopelessly go out of topics to discuss when in a crowd or a group. My brain is tuned to listen, listen and listen more. If I blabber, it is either when I have a fever, or it is travel time (the excitement peaks and I talk nonsense, it seems! and I am asked to shut-up and give a helping hand), or when I don't relate much to the topic being discussed, but asked for my views :-)

Some people are a mirror opposite of what I am. They can keep a conversation going no end, talk on everything under the sun, sometimes very witty as well. Envy those folks for that. :)

Went on Sunday to visit my cousin's farm beyond Kolar for a function at his place. Took my parents along and also my aunt (mom's elder sister) and her son. The trip took around 2.5 hours each way.

The chatter started once I picked my aunt up on the way, between her and my mom. Picked up momentum as we moved towards the grid-locked Old Madras Road with all kinds of construction happening around that place. The dialogue continued all the way till we reached the farm, save around a 10 minute break for breakfast. The return trip was no different. Started off once we moved out of the farm-house and ran in a non-stop fashion till it was time to drop my aunt off.

The chat (almost everything in Kannada) covered topics about relatives and their brood, bouquets for some and brickbats for some, their childhood (aunt was born in Kolar, my mom in Mandya, facts I never knew), their parents (long stories), people they knew from childhood, the never ending stream of people at their childhood home, places visited long back, those who are no more and those are still hanging in, memories of their sisters and brothers, bright times, sad times, neighbors, luck, Gautama Buddha, the changed cityscape, weather in Bengaluru/Singapore!, topics on TV these days, their temple (non) visits and their commercialization, health and a few more. All this even when both of them are regularly in touch.

All the while, I was keeping myself occupied at the wheel with my listening antennae up. The three gents in the car talked maybe a total of 15 minutes throughout the entire to and fro journey!

Women and their small talk!!! Mmm... :-)

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18 comments:

savitha said...

Reading the first para, I felt, hey, this is almost me- I am all that, except that I need no fever or travel to blabber, I blabber in my sleep, almost often.

Then the sibling chatters- obviously they happen when sisters meet! Even my father gets all talkative when he meets his brothers. He feels like being on top of the world, when he meets his siblings and talks, LOUDLY :P

Irudhiyil Pengalai patri avathooru pesiyathaal velinadapu seihiraen :D

(After this long a comment :P)

gils said...

//engalai patri avathooru pesiyathaal//

swaram postla politician sonen :D inga velinadapu senju prooviteenga:D
Raaammmmmmmmmmmmmmmm neengalum enna mathirye thaana :D naanum romba pesa mateenga :D

RamNarayanS said...

@Savitha - Hee Hee. No offense intended in the last sentence, but that is an observation from my end. :-) I have never seen guys (or men) talk a variety as wide as this. :-) All that they talk is usually around slapstick, work, movies, girls, actresses and their own receding tresses. As you said in a simile, it was a sis to sis talk and they ploughed through it.

Ayyo, veli nadappu ellaam senju politicise pannidaatheenga. :-o irukkara pozhappum kettu poagum. :-)

RamNarayanS said...

@gils - Yaenga Savitha vaayai kindi udureenga? ;-)

Aamaanga Aamaam. I have told you earlier in some other post, there is a wavelength match somewhere. :-D Aana enakku ennamO innum sandhEgama irukku, neenga oru 'loda lotta' vaayOnnu. Your posts show both sides (silent observation, camaraderie) Maybe you are an enigma :-) :-)

savitha said...

@Gils: :D :D :D

@RamMmm: Periya manasu panni, I get back my decision :P....
Was just kidding!! Though, it's not always women alone who keep chattering, and this is a myth, like many others :)

I think this continuous chatter is a reflection of the insecurity ppl have, as if the 'together times' will be emptied when they return back homes, so they need to finish talking all the stories of the world in all the time they get to....

gils said...

//Maybe you are an enigma//

ileenga.. eminem :)

RamNarayanS said...

:-) Uda maattaengareenga. :-) Generally I see that the friendships forged between females are much stronger than those between the males. Males drift out faster.

Very interesting observation that you have there, Savitha. Very true in this case as well. They talk over phone, meet once in a while, but there is always a lot that gets exchanged over a face to face talk. Everybody is usually in their own world, otherwise.

Appu said...

I really dont agree with your self analysis :)
I have never seen u go out of topics.
Most of time very frankly u say, i am not good at this topic.

BTW me feels it is not a myth :)

Not to mention the time wen gals talk to guys and the side effects related to it :)

RamNarayanS said...

@zeno - technical topicna maybe, just maybe okay, but I am absolutely bad in conversational small talk. :-)

Are you against Savitha's comment or with it? I cannot place your next line comment as well into that context?

Appu said...

I have felt you are good.[ even in terms of comparisons you fare far more better :) LOL]

My view is girls are good at small talk. may be it's a compliment to them. ;) Y think of otherwise? ;)

I meant another scenario where there is one gal and a guy and the gal keeps on talking and the guy never getting a chance to talk and still getting blasting, you are not listening to me. [well no offence meant and i dont intend to generalize!]

RamNarayanS said...

Oye zeno, yaaroda paa compare pannara? Along with a LOL? That seems to be devious :-)

Maybe yes on your other points as long as you don't get flamed. :-)

Uttara Ananthakrishnan said...

Grins :D how true! :P

Shruti said...

:D :P
Raammmmm, These type of people exists both in men in women... My cousin (bro) speaks like there is no tommorow. When he calls me, i put the speaker on, finish cleaning kitchen, wash clothes with a mild 'hmmm' and still he speaks.. Huh!! Even my mom won't speak that much!!

Ippo inga indha comment box la, see am sooooo silent and this Gils is just opposite to me!! Vaaaya tharandha non-stop...... Ponnungalla yenna madhri amaidhiyana ponnum irukanga, pasangalla gils madhri, adhu yennomo sonnengale, "loda lotta" Vaai nu, apdiyum irukaanga!!

*Innocently blinking* :)

savitha said...

@Shruti: Well said!:P

*Hi-five!*

RamNarayanS said...

@Shruti - I won't deny what you or Savitha said; it is just that I have not observed quite a chatterbox guy in my life so far. But gal chatterboxes, statistically significant when compared to guys. Hence a mild sweeping generalization. :)

And also, I apply the same comment on gils to you. I don't (can't) believe you are a silent gal. Maybe you are silent at times, mostly you aren't and cannot be. :-)

@Shruti, @Savitha - Rajni's old dialogue morphed "Paththa vechchuteengalé ma, paththa vechchuteengalé". Gils enna solla pôraarô, idhukku.

gils said...

i am so silent in my response to prove my statement..surutti and athivasi prove themselves :D

gils said...

// Ponnungalla yenna madhri amaidhiyana ponnum irukanga,//

enna kodumai ithu :D

Shruti said...

""// Ponnungalla yenna madhri amaidhiyana ponnum irukanga,//

enna kodumai ithu :D""

Yenna paathu unakku porama, adan ipdi varthai la veli varuthu :D

Ask Rammm itself, he will tell how silent am!!