Deep Conversations

 I in general am far from conversations. I like to be myself in my thoughts rather than to talk with others however close they are. But, there are multiple instances where there were such deep conversations that I spoke my heart out while enjoying the conversation to the utmost detail. This is about one of those instances.

Three friends and I went to Gokarna to chill for three days. We haven't stayed at the crowded locations of Gokarna but found an off-beat stay that has an open restaurant, and the beach is about 100 meters. You can't see the beach from the restaurant as that patch of land is filled with trees, yet you feel the breeze through the shivering trees and smell the ocean. We middle-class people understand a vacation as covering as many locations as possible. Vacation ends up as another hustle of waking early, hurrying at every location as we might miss places in the itinerary, and sleeping late. Less sleep, less relaxation, more places, and pictures. So, when we four did just absolutely nothing for three days apart from talking, reading, or watching the beach, it felt wrong in some way. As if we were wasting time. Everything changed by day three though, and that's for good.

For three days, we either sat at Stay's Restaurant, or at Namaste Cafe which looks over Om Beach. One of us is an expert at asking random questions. He could cook up a question out of something he'd seen, heard, or remembered. Once the question's asked, there is no backing away. Everyone at the table is involved in the conversation. In those three days, we discussed many such random topics that time just flew. Two nights, we were having those conversations till 3 in the night; adding to the table was the owner of the restaurant too. All those conversations were less of a debate, more of a discussion. Most of them didn't even have a conclusion.

Despite all the arguments, we've enjoyed the conversations. I've missed such conversations. All of us are trained since childhood to ask questions, yet we ask fewer and fewer questions due to the change in judgment of our character by others for asking dumb questions. We have the desire to talk about random stuff, yet we are being led to talk only if it is productive for the situation. Having talked with no particular agenda and no conclusion opened up an entire set of possibilities with no boundaries. No one's denying the points but just adding to it, breaking the wall of self-consciousness, and thinking beyond.

Those three days are etched into my brain and I can definitely say that was one of the best vacations I ever had.