Friday, April 25, 2014

You’ve got a friend!

10 sure-shot ways to become my friend at first sight!



I recently realized that there is a subtle yet prevalent pattern among the kind of people that I am really attached to. And there is a strong though often overseen differentiating factor between people who I prefer to call as my “confidantes” and others who range somewhere between plain acquaintances to buddies. The conclusion is that I have a strong sense of affinity towards people who have a close connection with books in particular and literature in general. Somehow, a person who is an avid reader or writer, has a special “aura” to the personality that is apparently a key differentiator for me. So that’s how I came up with a list of “first meeting episodes” that potentially act as a screening factor, more like a sign board that blinks the moment I come across such situation “Well, you’ve got a friend!”
1.       A random acquaintance who starts following you on “good reads” and you realize that they happen to like the same kind of books that you read
2.       Someone tells you that they had a perfect weekend because they could spend the entire time at home curled up in bed with a cup of coffee and a brilliant book to keep company
3.       When you see someone getting annoyed because a book they lent to someone else came back “dog-eared” and he/she can’t stop cribbing about it all day, as if a long built trust had been lost on this one instance
4.       A discussion with the office colleagues where someone happens to quote one of your favorite authors, and you are the only one in the entire gang who responds with a knowing smile, while others are still figuring out the Latin words just spoken
5.       Someone complaining that they have stopped buying books for the only reason that his/her bedroom does not provide the luxury of having any more books (this is so true for so many Mumbai residents!!!!)
6.       Someone else picks up the same book that you have been searching for long, at a Crossword or a Landmark, and you end up having a 45 minutes conversation with that person, first on the book, then on the author and then on your respective collections in general
7.       A friend’s friend who happens to mention in an introductory conversation that he/she is a fellow blogger and manages to squeeze some time out of the jam packed schedule of work to write, at least once a month
8.       You go to someone’s place for the first time and they end up showing you the one thing you always wanted in your dream home – a floor-to-ceiling book shelf filled with a range of genres from classic to fiction to humor
9.       A travelling partner that you come across by chance who is as engrossed in his/her book as you are and better yet, the book turns out to be a preferred author or one that you have read already
10.   A person longing to get hold of a laptop as soon as he/she finishes a trip just so the memories of that trip can be captured into blogs or journal and thus immortalized through words forever
If you fall in any of the above categories, you are probably a friend already and if not, I will get to you soon!
PS: Many may find this blog too pretentious, but then when it comes to literature, I am a snob without doubts!

6 comments:

  1. I wish we had a like button here! Well written...

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  2. Thanks a lot! Inspired by friends like you!

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  3. I found myself nodding more and more vigorously with each passing point! Totally agree!

    P.S. do u care if a Chetan Bhagat reader finds u pretentious?! :D

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  4. Shreya! Completely agree on the Chetan Bhagat thing :)

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  5. Waiting for you to get to me then :)

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  6. I completely agree with all points esp no. 3. i have burned my fingers in the past and now I have stopped lending my books to friends and relatives (btw, they all can easily afford to buy their own copies but are always try to manage them for free..it sucks)

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