Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Goofy Grin Vs Stupid Look

Goofy Grin:
At home yesterday, along comes a guy from the bank to pick up a cheque for deposit into my account. A seemingly boring and routine errand for him, and a necessary one for me. I open the door and am taken aback at the open smile he gives me. Now, I am aware that I don't react very well when I am taken aback. So, I tried smiling back in what I hoped was in a perfunctory way. I asked him his name, who sent him, etc. as part of an identification-check process that perhaps was not terribly necessary. Paranoia in full swing as usual!

Wonder of wonders, as he answered, he continued to smile and me, I have never been known to control my smiles, grins ...or indeed giggles and guffaws. I just grinned back. Quite disarming the chap was. But me, I was beginning to feel plain goofy and I knew I looked it. It was a meaningless smile, you know. And for NOTHING. But I could not help it. Amazing what a smile can do! I tried hard to finish the conversation as this mutual grinning was getting ridiculous or perhaps I had found a person quite as mad as I am! When I finally closed the door, I kicked myself (mentally of course, since physically kicking oneself needs a high degree of agility, am sure) for my goofy behaviour.

Now, this is not to be construed as flirting. It's just that I experienced SUCH an infectious smile after so long that I thought it worth blogging about!

Stupid Look:

The gym is a great place for stupid looks. Probably, this is unique to India? Hmmm. Whether I lose any weight or not, I manage to notice and experience weird things at the gym. Kind of keeps the interest and enthusiasm up! Furtive looks and sidelong glances are also quite common at the gym...and not just by ME, thank you very much.

The same day as the goofy grin, I went to gym and as I was working out, a guy I had never seen before finished his workout on the treadmill in front of me and turned and looked me straight in the eye. I have had quite a few strange experiences at the gym especially with the opposite sex so I was not about to honour him with one of my smiles, leave alone goofy grins. I just looked back and he looked quite expectant for a second -- like he thought I would smile. My earlier goofy grin flashed through my mind and I decided I could not afford to have my carefully maintained not-so-friendly 'gym image' ruptured and so, I quickly turned away. That split second in time just BEFORE a smile, has the face set into an expectant, curious expression which frankly looks less cool than it sounds. Quite stupid really. So, the stupid look. His, I mean.;)

A penny for my expressions, I say.

Sadly even I am not willing to spare the penny!;)