the art of conversation

when you are expected to make polite conversation, those are the testing times. you are unable to say anything because all the time you are thinking of what to say. over the years i haven't been able to overcome my shortcomings. i remember myself sitting in my drawing room in patna, trying hard to strike a conversation with some distant relatives while my mother is busy getting tea for them. at that time you could easily escape the embarassment, the guest would often say, bahut shant hai. also, as an adult, the responsibility of starting a conversation and making it roar would fall on the guest. but the akwardness of the situation has stayed on. even now if i get a phone call from an aunt, who calls with all the good intention, the conversation wouldn't flow beyond health and weather and when are you visiting patna next.
i curse gurgaon. the other day i had to take a lift back home from a colleague with whom i haven't chatted for more than 10 minutes, that is, if you add up all the small chats we have had. i tried my best to rope in another colleague. but i failed. 1 hour drive, where i ll have to keep conversing. i don't know why i thought it was my duty to keep him entertained while he was driving me home. thankfully, he wasn't the quiet types. and the topic he chose for his extempore was: fm stations of delhi. i could wander about in my thoughts while he went on and on. in between i just had to keep encouraging him, you are right. that not only kept him going, it also gave him the illusion that i too was a part of the conversation.
thankfully, there were lesser jams that day. i reached home in less than an hour.