Chatty people

chat·ty (cht)
adj. chat·ti·er, chat·ti·est
1. Inclined to chat; friendly and talkative.
2. Full of or in the style of light informal talk: a chatty letter.

Now that we have the defination of Chatty out of the way, its time to begin. I would generally classify people in two categories (one that chat and the other that think its a waste of time). I fall in the former of the two categories. I wonder where a reader like you, falls in? Anyways lets carry on....

Given a chance I'd surely chat, be it a co passenger on train, flight, driver of a cab, so on and so forth. Im about to share some interesting conversations that ive had recently on my trip to KL and Singapore, some of these conversations throw great light on the aspirations of people, what they consider good or bad, an insight into their lives and how they choose to live it.

INCIDENT 1
My journey started off from home to the airport (obviously), had a flight at about 11.45pm and decided to leave the house at 8pm (in all the traffic headed to the suburbs). The adventureous side of me (according to someone - needs to be discouraged sometimes, rightly so this time) was contemplating getting there by train - getting to Andheri in 22 mins was too much of a bait, the not so adventureous side of me overruled and i simply took a cab to the airport.

Dont know what got the driver started or me started, but we talked about numerous subjects, few of which i shall touch upon. Firstly politics and how the so called "netas" have been screwing the country, people like Raj Thakrey, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati etc. figured in the conversation.

Part of the discussion wandered around the days of the B&W Televisions, how big mobiles were when they were launched and how he chauffered this guy in Nariman point who was the fist to own a mobile in the whole area. How his ex SETH (mumbaikars get the point) has grown from owning a Fiat in something like 1980 to having 5 cars now in Nepeansea road.

This cabbie was very inquisitive on what was happening in Switzerland with the BIG BANG experiment, I had quite a hard time explaining him on what was happening in HINDI. What does one call planets in hindi, how does one name the planets in hindi... that was quite tough. Finally the dearest conversation to the cabbie was about the fact that "whether GOD exists or not, if it is to be believed or not" This all came from the BIG BANG discussion, and his opinion was that it was Lord Shankar or someone who made the planet earth and strongly believed in it. I didnt realise that 1.5 hrs ride to the airport passed by so quickly, finally this cabbie thanked me for the talk, saying that he learnt so much etc. etc. so much so for INCIDENT 1 - now lets move on

INCIDENT 2
Flight boarded. Im sitting next to this "WOMAN" who looked a bit Indian and a bit Malaysian. There was one part of me saying she is an Indian and another one saying no this is woman is not Indian. I was tempted to ask. I was looking for give away signs like mannerisms, shoes, bags and what she would read etc. No breakthru yet and the flight took off. Like my usual self - during take off i had my reading light on
and was reading "The Straits Times" (malaysian newspapaer)in english, thats where her inquisitiveness took over and she enquired if I was Malaysian or Indian. There was the ice breaker. I then discovered she was half Malaysian and half Srilankan. During the course of the flight our discussion moved in several directions - from Malaysian people to Facebook to Shahrukh Khan to Snooty airhostesses etc. I learnt a bit later that she was a TV Show - hostess and an aspiring actor. I dunno if this is a Malaysian trait or what but the actor in her was showing through the conversation with expressive gestures, movement of hands and eyes. Must say - big chance that this woman will make it to the movies. The very fact that she was returning home from India while her parents thought (or made to believe) she was in Singapore said a lot about this bold woman. I was impressed with her confidence.

INCIDENT 3
On the return flight to Mumbai. Got the emergency exit seat. Legs stretched and comfy. This guy next to me was totally a STUD. Looked Pakistani to begin with. Picture this - longish hair , ITALY - football tshirt, neat looking jeans, PUMA - FERRARI shoes. Dont know what broke the ice but we introduced ourselves and much to my surprise i found out that hes a SINDHI. So we talked bout business and how much clubbing our MAN had done in KL and Singapore - To all the SINGAPORE gang - this guy was also part of AMBER LOUNGE - Johnny Walker party - where he said he saw - Priti zinta, Shilpa shetty, Vijay Mallya, Ness Wadia among host of other celebs. Finally food was served and we were eating so there was silence for a while. Our man had asked my opinion on what movie he should watch - so i suggested "THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM" and to that he responded on how he was so into martial arts etc etc. When we landed our man was still perplexed on how he was going to get his imported SOUND SYSTEM for his CAR out of customs. For the record - this was designed by some consultant in Singapore and some parts came from Germany - Hand assembled in UK etc etc. That was it. I was done. Ready to head home.

So ill end now with a few questions

1) If people are chatty - what characteristics does it give away of the nature of the person?

2) Are you chatty or not chatty - how does it feel being not chatty and surrounded by chatty people?

Confusing eh....