TOO CLOSE, TOO BAD!

Some friends whom you haven’t met for years can be really exasperating if you bump into them.

GETTING PERSONAL: Some people just don’t know

where to draw the line



OB N OX I O U S and irrit at i n g : these words fit the description of a person who makes unnecessary comments and gets too personal when you meet them after years. Such people have this weird quality of pretending to be too close and being ‘best of friends’ with everyone. It’s good to have people liking you and being friends with you, but these buddies are too loud and could land you in an embarrassing situation. Something similar happened with Reena Katariya, a website designer. She recalls, “I was at this mall in the city with my friends, where I bumped into this school friend of mine. At first, things were nice and we spoke about the good old school days. But, after this, it got a little personal. He asked me if I had a boyfriend and also forced me to having a cup of coffee with him. My friends were waiting for me, and he just wouldn’t stop talking. Why this was strange is since we were hardly the best of buddies in school.” When you find an old friend, many sweet memories return to your mind, bringing back the feel of those carefree days. Graphics Designer Sameer Joshi met one such buddy at a party, and was quite glad at first. He tells, “My happiness knew no bounds when I met this old neighbourhood friend of mine at a party. We had spent some really fun time playing cricket. Those were fun times. But, a lot had changed since then. I was now happily married. And a few things he spoke were really embarrassing. My wife knew I was notorious when young, but the situation there was awkward.” All of us have found long-lost buddies on social networking sites, and it’s fun to catch up with them. But, for homemaker Meena Singhi it was irritating. “I got this friend request from an old buddy and added him. We began chatting and it started with the usual ‘Hi, how are you’ and went on to ‘what are you doing these days’. When I told him I was a homemaker and wrote blogs, he started giving suggestions and saying that I was wasting my talent writing blogs. My question was if I was enjoying my way of life, what did he have a problem? I ended the chat there and ignored him,” she says.

Alumni meets at college is something that we look forward too. Cancelling all our appointments, we await the moment when we go to college and meet our college mates. It brings a smile on our face thinking of the days we bunked college, played pranks and had crushes. Ashish Mathew met one such crush at an alumni meet. “I had this small time crush on this girl during my college days. At that, time she was quite a babe. After so many years, I saw her at the meet. She still spoke like a kid, and she even mentioned to me that I had a crush on her. It was way too embarrassing, and my friends didn't let go of this opportunity to pull my leg,” he smiles.

Not all friends we meet are irritating. But once-in-a-while you tend to come across such buddies. Is it possible to like them? Well, that depends on you!