I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
The title speaks of the class of people a lot whom I'm meeting these days. I guess I have the ability to attract the breed of people who are SO curious about others personal affairs that the saying "Curiosity kills the cat", means nothing to them. If there's one thing that really gets on my nerves, it is people meddling in my affairs. Of course there are lot of other things that annoy me but this tops the list. I just cannot take it when acquaintances quiz me about personal aspects of my life. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a land where people have not heard of concepts like 'space' and 'privacy'. Or even if they have heard of such things they do not believe in the application of it in their lives!
Take today for instance. Had to take my Little one (LO) for her vaccination. Her pediatrician's clinic is a stone's throw away from our house so my mom and me always walk up to his clinic, whenever LO is due for her vaccinations. Today, on our way back, while crossing the road I happened to notice an acquaintance far behind, suddenly pick up pace in an attempt to catch up with us. I wanted to avoid the interaction with her knowing fully well how the conversation would go.When she was within hearing distance she called out to us to slow down a bit. Once she caught up with us, she had a look at LO and wanted to know if she was awake or asleep. And then began an interview consisting of a string of questions that started from a polite inquiry and advanced towards questions bordering on personal and intimate.
Now, when I don't want to have a conversation with someone I answer their questions with one word answers. Usually people get the point and back off. But not THE NOSY PARKER. These people are on a quest of The Holy Grail and every question they ask will help them get closer to their goal. Giving one word answers to such people only encourages them to ask more questions and that's when I realise I was better off answering a single question with a lengthy answer instead of putting up with their interrogation. When I meet such people my dil goes grrrrrr, but the polite and well behaved me cannot turn into Frankenstein and tell them to mind their own business!! In the end I end up answering all their questions and satisfying their undying curiosity.
The same thing happened today when this acquaintance began playing the Rapid fire round with me. The list of questions were:
1. Is she awake or sleeping?
2. Where did you take her?
3. To the doctor?
4. Which Doctor?
5. Why? Injection? (yes, there are some questions which are instantly followed with another question that's actually the answer to the previous question!)
6. Why haven't you covered her head?
7. Your husband has gone back?
8. He stays in Bangalore?
9. How old is your baby?
Fortunately we reached our Colony by this time or her next question would have been "When did you get married?". I wont explain what purpose this question would serve her. Take a guess at what would she have deduced had I got the opportunity to answer the question.. ;) I'm smiling now but trust me I wasn't amused at that moment.
So that brings me to the question, how much is too much? Do other people think about this? I guess the ones I meet, don't. While I know we're in the age of Facebook, where nothing is personal, I'm getting kinda fed up trying to protect my privacy. When will people realize where to draw the line? Marie Curie said "Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas". I wish people put this into practice.
Take today for instance. Had to take my Little one (LO) for her vaccination. Her pediatrician's clinic is a stone's throw away from our house so my mom and me always walk up to his clinic, whenever LO is due for her vaccinations. Today, on our way back, while crossing the road I happened to notice an acquaintance far behind, suddenly pick up pace in an attempt to catch up with us. I wanted to avoid the interaction with her knowing fully well how the conversation would go.When she was within hearing distance she called out to us to slow down a bit. Once she caught up with us, she had a look at LO and wanted to know if she was awake or asleep. And then began an interview consisting of a string of questions that started from a polite inquiry and advanced towards questions bordering on personal and intimate.
Now, when I don't want to have a conversation with someone I answer their questions with one word answers. Usually people get the point and back off. But not THE NOSY PARKER. These people are on a quest of The Holy Grail and every question they ask will help them get closer to their goal. Giving one word answers to such people only encourages them to ask more questions and that's when I realise I was better off answering a single question with a lengthy answer instead of putting up with their interrogation. When I meet such people my dil goes grrrrrr, but the polite and well behaved me cannot turn into Frankenstein and tell them to mind their own business!! In the end I end up answering all their questions and satisfying their undying curiosity.
The same thing happened today when this acquaintance began playing the Rapid fire round with me. The list of questions were:
1. Is she awake or sleeping?
2. Where did you take her?
3. To the doctor?
4. Which Doctor?
5. Why? Injection? (yes, there are some questions which are instantly followed with another question that's actually the answer to the previous question!)
6. Why haven't you covered her head?
7. Your husband has gone back?
8. He stays in Bangalore?
9. How old is your baby?
Fortunately we reached our Colony by this time or her next question would have been "When did you get married?". I wont explain what purpose this question would serve her. Take a guess at what would she have deduced had I got the opportunity to answer the question.. ;) I'm smiling now but trust me I wasn't amused at that moment.
So that brings me to the question, how much is too much? Do other people think about this? I guess the ones I meet, don't. While I know we're in the age of Facebook, where nothing is personal, I'm getting kinda fed up trying to protect my privacy. When will people realize where to draw the line? Marie Curie said "Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas". I wish people put this into practice.
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