I was in the subway, saw a former colleague ( a woman ) needed to ask them something about a university ( it was a startup that helped with admissions where i used to work). I saw them on station 1, needed to get off at station 10. Till Station 9, I kept thinking should i ask her? do i really need to ask? am i just asking for attention? is it really necessary? how do i just start talking ? do i tap her shoulder? do i tap her bag? i did not even remember her name. I started rehearsing till station 8 again and again, till finally idk what happened. I just tapped her shoulder, Started with
‘ Although i have forgotten your name , but i remember you used to work at \_, i applied to a university, so just wanted to ask you as you work in \_ team “.
At first, She seemed kinda taken aback to why a stranger is asking her all this, She answered my question, very politely and it was a great conversation, I became quite like myself after a while.I just realised i did not even say Hi to her , But it ended very well. She smiled and went “Ahaan “when she remembered my name ( i guess she was also trying to figure out where she has seen me before ) I realised how my voice changed when i started talking to her. I have always believed myself to be a very good conversationalist with good voice modulation. But today i realised how extremely frustrating it is to really go out of your way to talk to people and get out of your comfort zone.
Something similar happened in another train where two guys were talking about Gaming and i really wanted to tell how i have also played RDR2 but i was too anxious to say anything and regretted it later. This time i spoke because at Station 9, I asked myself ” What is the worst that could happen?”
I learned that sometimes it is worth it to take a risk and talk to someone, even if it is just to say Hi. I’m glad that I did it and it ended well with the woman in the subway. I’m sure the same would have happened with the two guys in the other train had I spoken to them.