Friends, Friendship, India, Mumbai, People, Sharing views, Such is life, Women

Work and pay

I’m sitting in a restaurant with a couple of girl friends. One of them has a creative and fascinating job profile and has travelled the world on work assignments. She has just changed jobs, got promoted and can’t stop gushing about it. Not willing to steal her thunder we’re playing along with appropriate responses.

After she realises she has repeated the same things over several times, she decides to turn the discussion to us petty-achieving souls (read homemakers).

M : *to me* Please Varsh, I beg of you. You need to go shopping with me. Your sense of style is gruelling to my eyes. This X brand has a wonderful collection. Try it out.

I smile, and say “Ok!”

After some time, again she starts.

M : *this time to A (the other girl)* Are you wearing a deodorant? For God’s sake, use a perfume. I use this Y brand. Any fragrance you choose, it is simply awesome. Try it out.

A looks at me and smiles, adding the same “Ok!”

The food arrives, and this well-travelled lass comes up with a zillion things about food from several countries and how ‘desi’ Indian restaurants make them taste. The rest of us are the silent spectators of the evening. Apparently, our boring family lives aren’t worth mentioning or talking about.

We gallantly survive the self-indulgence, somehow. The bill arrives and for the first time in the whole evening, she goes mute. We mentally calculate our share and remove the necessary change from our wallets, while she collects it from us and offers to pay with her card.

Interestingly, her card gets turned down (not for the first time on our dinner dates). She has no cash on her (as always), or so she says. We end up paying for her and also drop her to her place since she has nothing to pay for the auto. High-flying job, right! :-/

Does dropping a few brand names make someone feel elite? I have seen people who won’t stop at not-so-subtly diverting peoples’ attention to their branded purses and then flaunting their names. With all due credit to my parents and teachers, I’m still in touch with my reading prowess, thank you.

Courtesy, compassion or self-accountability are personal virtues. Work, travel or experience do not have an influence on them. A person’s beauty is not in what he/she wears or shows, it is in the way she makes others feel about him/her.

37 thoughts on “Work and pay

  1. True…i could much relate to this brand incidents…even if we tease her telling the same, she will never stop…may be it’s just her comfort..and as we are not offended, she just continues and we too…

  2. Hey Varsha, Good afternoon!
    Could this be an insecurity on her part, something in lines with putting up a false image of being everything you are not for fear of not being judged for actually what she is? When I say ‘she’ I mean the lady you mentioned and everyone who pretend to be everything they are not, just to grab attention.

    1. Good afternoon Perfy!
      You raised a valid point. It could very well be the case. It is so much of work though, to keep and live up to a false image. Friends aren’t there to impress. Why bother with them? Attention-seeking in this case isn’t doing her any good.

        1. But ofcourse. I might sound unfair, but after that we chose not to call her upon and wished she would refuse, when we did. Friendship should be two-way or it loses its purpose.

        1. This one time I really felt miserable. Despite us having a good time when she gave up that act, the fact that she was being so full of herself was punishing.

  3. It all depends on how much you understand life and the reason for your being on this planet as human being….. most of all are lost in the materialistic world are conscious of our status… we start taking pride in talking loud about our experience with materialistic contents…. our education system which has ruined our intelligence is the main culprit for such behavior…… chill out….. life goes on ……

    1. I agree this behaviour might have some outward influences, but it depends on the person too. Showing off your status might possibly be necessary in say, your workplace. With friends though one needs to be more real. Such kind of self-proclamation makes you lose friends and respect real fast and easy.

    1. True. Choti choti baatein samajhke ignore karna hi thik hai. 😉
      I have no qualms about the brands. I like them too. Flaunting them as if your entire image depended on it is what I don’t like. Be yourself. Be your own brand.

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