The Guinness record for Talking goes to…

This post is a request…I had mentioned to my friend that a certain gentleman was BLOG MATERIAL and then somehow didn’t get down to writing the blog. She reminded me…it appears to me that she is following my blog and has been eagerly waiting for this post. (Well..SJ if you read this, you better leave behind a comment as this one is for you!)

On a recent trip to Chennai, my friend and I were forced to share a cab with a gentleman from our office. Our manager mentioned as we were leaving…’he’s a real nice fellow…but talks a lot’. That from him should have warned us…as he himself talks non stop and nineteen to a dozen!!!

We had barely settled in the cab that he started firing questions at us. In about 1 KM i.e to someone who knows the route, I would mention till we reached from our office to the main DLF Park gate, he had gathered from us how long we had been working with QA team, which project we were in now, how long we had been with Logica, how long in Bangalore, how long in Chennai etc etc.

Without even catching his breath, he moved to the next topic. It must be appreciated that he was NEVER, not even for a second at a loss for a topic to converse on.

Where do I stay in Bangalore, is it my own house or rented. As I mentioned ITPL, he asked if my husband works in ITPL. The moment I said happily unamarried, his brain started working double time. Calculations…and as he started asking more questions on my experience I could feel he is trying to calculate my age. I saved him the trouble and told him my age. I couldn’t see his face but am sure his jaw dropped. But still that didn’t stop him from blabbering away. He was like ‘Look at the girls these days. And then he started telling us about another colleague of ours, who was also not married, saying that she says ‘ she is happy like this and doesn’t want to get married’. The saving grace was that SJ is married! I wonder what would have happened if SJ also said she was unmarried!

But she wasn’t to be spared either. She was hungry and this gentleman decided that the next topic of discussion would be food!!! It all started with where I was staying in Chennai?  I was in a guest house and this place serves only vegetarian food and that was why he hated it when he was made to stay there the last time he was in Chennai. He was like “I need at least 15 non veg items on my plate when I am here in Chennai…chicken, muuton, fish…’. Had we been to XYZ restaurant (cant remember the name now)?” As we said no, he made it sound as if we had missed out on life itself. “What a place, so much food, chicken, mutton, gravy. He was like, I have told admin, I will stay only in the hotel. No guest house for me.”

The excitement in his words was infectious. SJ was like…should we go and have food there now?

Then he went on to describe the previous evening. He went to some bar and restaurant near his place…he refused to tell the name of this place as he began his anecdote. Not that he gave us a chance after that to ask him once again the name of the place!!! It seems with the beer the waiter came with…not one BUT 4 BIG bowls of snacks…and free!!! There was chips, peanuts, mixture…he ate and drank and ate and drank.

By now SJ’s stomach was growling and growling. She wanted to know if we could get anything to eat at the guest house. I was like I can ask the caretaker to make some idlis. That was it. Our conversation…

Him: for dinner?

Me: no snacks. (actually I could have Idlis for dinner but he made it sound as if we were crazy)

Him: At this time? (It was 7:00). If you have snacks now, when will you have dinner. What time do you have your dinner, what time do you have lunch? What time do you have breakfast?

Without even giving us a chance to speak, he was like…looks like you all eat the whole day long!

These are just some of the discussions we had that evening. But believe me, he didn’t pause for even a second in the whole 1.5 hrs journey. So much so that by the end of it, SJ decided that we would get off and take an auto.

There was one more person from his team in the car who was to get off in town and where SJ and I decided to get off also. And as all 3 of us got off, you could hear the disappointment in his voice…all 3 of you are getting off.

We smiled and nodded and at least SJ and I thought…poor driver, he’s in for it now!

I talk a LOT! So does SJ! And definitely our manager too. Well, he talks more than the 3 of us put together!!!