Are u alright ???

‘Are u alright ?’ …. She asked as she waved her hand before my face.

It must have been around 3 – 4 minutes, since I was quiet. But I wasn’t quiet aware of it. Sitting before her, with my chin resting on my palm propped up on the table, I was lost, or so it seemed to her.

‘oh yeah! Why do you ask ?’
‘What happens to you suddenly?’ I could sense the concern in her voice …
“hey nothing, trust me”
‘huh !! but you shut off unexpectedly, when you were just full on minutes before, about your trip last week’
‘chill, there’s seriously nothing’
.
.
.
And so it went for few more minutes, after which I was full on again just to be quiet again. I was meeting her after so long and I just wanted to get absorbed by that wonderful feeling, still something seemed amiss.
.
.
As I sat in the auto, on my way back, wisps of thoughts began to float inside me.

But what is so wrong in being quiet? Why silence is considered an abnormality?
Why is it taken as a synonym of either egotism or stupidity? What is it that is so scary
about silence? Wonder what is there that makes people feel intimidated by it.
I mean, why a conversation can’t comprise of silence too, just as it comprises of all
the other essentials.

Is it really important for two people meeting after so long, to chat endlessly and may be sometimes mindlessly? Why can’t we revel in just being in each other’s company? What’s the rush about? Why does it have to always end up as a contest of who speaks the most ?

I guess too much has been made out of the term “communication skills”. And we just
seem to apply it everywhere. There kind of exists an insecurity within us. As if we’ll lose or will be left behind all alone, if we don’t speak. And barring those few closest of the pals, we constantly seem to be working on our PR while talking, and so consciously or unconsciously a part of us becomes what we never are .

But there are relations and there are moments, which I’m sure everyone of us must have experienced, where and when its just the listening which does the talking, which affirmates the bond and which makes the moments unforgettable.
Listening to the presence of the other which says ‘I’m there for you forever’. Listening to the heart which says ’whenever you’ll look for me you’ll find me right there’. Listening to those dreamy eyes which say ‘what would I have been without you !!’. And subsequently, allowing the smiles to embrace and touch to inspire.