Stranger in Moscow

I'm back after a hiatus. I was just not motivated enough to write. So what brings me back.......... Annoy did try her best to get me back to writing but it didn't work. What worked for me is a Stranger. "Stranger in Moscow". No, I'm not referring to the Micheal Jackson song. I'm referring to the "Stranger in Moscow" that triggered this post. (ref. to annoy - this stranger is not from Moscow)

Trigger, Stimulus, Response - these words remind my of my dear friend - lets call him Chandraswami for the time being. There were two more partners in crime, lets call the other guy Sally and to complete the trio was the man they called Mika. There were umpteen number of times when we tested out these theories of Stimulus and response. More often that not they worked. Probably one reason why most people in the college stayed away from the dreaded Chandraswami. However, I got along with Chandraswami quite well. I wasn't afraid that Chandraswami read people. I did too. So did sally. The point I'm trying to make here is all of us react in a certain way to a specific type of stimulus - be it planned or unplanned. OK - i know, i know what you guys are thinking. You all must be saying - we all know that don't we. read on people - don't disturb my thoughts....

Think of a stranger who triggered a response from you - think of the reason why - and share it here if you can do so. Some get paranoid about strangers. Are you one of them? I'm more at ease with strangers as compared to most - i can talk to strangers anytime, anywhere.

I'd like to recall an event somewhere back in 1997. Picture this. I was about 20 yrs. old or thereabouts. I was super duper lucky enough to be on this trip to Switzerland and then tour across Europe. ALL ALONE. Backpacking - on a shoe string budget. This was my first trip all alone. (more about my escapades about EU 1997 in my next post). Picture this again.

Date - somewhere in 1997
Time - evening - around 5 ish
Venue - Intercity express from Zurich to Geneva (about 4 hrs or so)
Seat no. - I dont recall - did you even expect me to......

I was sitting in the train on the way home (or youth hostel would be more appropriate) after a long day at Zurich. It had been about 12 days or so since i left home and by now - I was missing home big time. Missing people who could talk to me in my own language. This man who got on at some random station sat across me. He looked Asian. I realised later he was a Pakistani. We smiled at each other. We started talking in Hindi. It seems like the guy had not communicated in Hindi / Urdu to someone else in a long long time. I simply loved talking in Hindi after sooooooooo many days. I recall - every sentence of his was punctuated with a "Madar^&*$", "Bhe%^&**d". He must have been really frustrated to talk like this. He went on to offer me "Kharghosh" meat - saying this is the best available. Ughhhhhhhhhhh. The talk went on for about 2hrs. He talked about random things and most importantly how I could land into trouble for not stamping my passport when moving out of Switzerland and returning back. That got me sooooooo nervous. Go figure - what stimulated us both to talk for so long.

This brings to my mind several questions. What makes me talk to strangers so easily. What makes them think -I'm willing to talk?

My advise to those who keep away from strangers - you never know, who you might miss out on. Some of my best friends were strangers to me at some point in time.

Do you know a "Stranger in Moscow"?