Today's world is continually becoming a 'Social Media' fanatic. Today's youth fantasizes over their virtual outreach on numerous social platforms. They find it an achievement to procure such and such number of 'likes', 'favorites', 'comments' and what not, on their aforesaid 'posts' shared via a Social Media account.
Such achievements, in my humble opinion are superfluous.
Social Media is making us socially awkward, at the end of it all.
By inclining ourselves towards Social Media, we're progressing towards becoming an unsocial being, by the day.
There used to be a time when 'homo-sapiens' were said to be social beings, because they could communicate with their peers.
We must learn to leave everything aside, for the time being now.
We've lost the essence of Communication over time, and it is dying a slow and painful death now.
Communication doesn't mean sitting in front of those dimly lit screens all day long, uploading 'Pictures' and 'Statuses', and sometimes even going to the extent of begging for 'Likes' and 'Comments', desperately.
Communication means picking up the phone, dialing a long-lost friend's number, and talking to them, in person, reminiscing over the good old times.
For God's sake, stop chatting over Social Media, give those poor fingers some well-deserved rest, and just listen, to absorb the voice of the other person, for a while.
Better still, drop in for a surprise visit or make plans to meet in person. It might just make someone's day!
Relationships in life aren't about that number of 'Friends' you have or the number of places you've 'checked into'.
Relationships are about emotions, and respecting the other person feelings.
Relationships are about taking out time from an otherwise 'busy schedule', sitting down and discussing what is actually going on in life, over a refreshing, hot cuppa coffee.
Not only do such one-to-one conversations provide a window to peep into and introspect through the labyrinth of Life, they bring out the real 'You' in you.
Such interactions pave the way for the foundation of new relationships as well!
Such conversations spark much more interest in person, than they would, over that godforsaken dimly lit screen.
Such dialogues go from heart-to-heart, and more often than not, we experience genuine moments of connections.
It is a heartfelt connect that touches the soul.
We all crave for being with our loved ones and cherish the moments spent together. We all have fond memories and stories to share.
Such a heartfelt connect had made its way through our souls too, when we met for the first time.
That connect is still going strong, even after twenty blissful years.
This is our story of bonding.
The story behind #HowWeMet…
Month: October
Year: 1994
Country: Canada
I was on an official project for three months there as a Project Manager with my team of developers and testers. Although it was a time bound project and we were quite sure to finish within the targeted period of three months, I as a project manager always had a different plan, set apart for my overseas projects. The plan was to put in extra efforts during weekdays, requesting the local staff of the customer management, by push or pull, to cooperate accordingly to help us finish the project well before time, and go back home, relaxed after properly handing over and signing off.
Though we were able to have full cooperation of the local staff of our overseas customer during weekdays, they didn’t agree to come to office for an hour or two, during weekends, to further reduce workload, and hence we were almost free during our weekends. So, either the whole team used to go for an outing during weekends or most of the time we were relaxing in our hotel.
It was one of those weekends in October when my team decided to go again to the nearby Starbucks that had become our regular hangout to enjoy and spend time, over our favorite coffees. Somehow the store had captured everybody’s attention and was now, a unanimous favorite. I was glancing upon the history of Starbucks, through one of the catalogues at the store and was informed about how the first store found base in Seattle in Pike Place Market in 1971. That is when we noticed a group of young ladies, our contemporaries, entering the store, and settling at the table opposite to ours. My intuition told me, something special was going to happen that day, the moment I noticed that lady, in that group.
Some magic had happened in that instant, which triggered those moments of connect. I just could not control myself from approaching her. After a formal introduction, I got to know, she was also from Delhi, visiting her aunt’s place here for a month or so to attend her cousin’s marriage. Probably she also must have felt an instant connect at that moment, when she agreed to meet me, the next evening.
It was not only the next day, we started meeting every day and gradually I could not resist myself from presenting a marriage proposal before her. She reluctantly accepted, but told very clearly to let my parents approach her parents in a formal way. Everything went as it should have, and it is our twentieth year together, now.
In more ways than one, we are thankful to Starbucks, where good things happened when we got together.
Do read about more such lovely #HowWeMet stories, here at Starbucks.
“Got some time to spend?
Let's spend it happily!”
Let us meet over a cuppa, shall we? :)
