Life & Style | People

10 Kinds of silences that are too loud for me

This week, Neeroo Srivastava, brand manager, Double A at Scholar Stationery LLC, Dubai, lists ...

By Ruqya Khan, Staff Writer
Published: 00:00 February 8, 2007

Image Credit:
Neeroo Srivastava, brand manager, Double A at Scholar Stationery LLC, Dubai.

We all have our personal lists - of the zaniest/quirkiest/
funniest/ craziest/smartest ... We devote this page to them.

This week, Neeroo Srivastava, brand manager, Double A at Scholar Stationery LLC, Dubai, lists ...

The shattering silence: You are watching your favourite TV show. Your child goes to the kitchen for a glass of water. You hear a crash. Then ... silence. You immediately know you can bid goodbye to your fav TV time because now it's time to step very, very carefully into the kitchen, clear the shards, mop the floor ...

Schooled into silence: You are at your kid's school to attend a PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) meeting and the teacher is silent when she opens your child's report card.

The I-don't-get-it silence: You are all geared up, your guests are agog and you launch a joke ... only to forget
the punchline. Silence.

Lost in silence: You are sure who the winner is going to be. You simply cannot be wrong. You place a bet with your friend ... but it turns out you were wrong. Your friend's silence before he explodes into happiness can be deafening.

Silent movies: You call your boss and tell him you're ill and would like to take the day off. Then you take off to the movies. Your boss also decides to catch a matinee show. At the ticket counter, you bump into each other. You stay silent. He does too. Both silences say it all.

Hurting silence: The guy looks really cool and you notice him as soon as you enter the mall. Then your mobile phone rings. You begin rummaging through your bag and then ... wham! your elbow jabs him sharply. Your smile vanishes and silence reigns as he walks past without a backward glance.

Delayed silence: You've missed an important appointment with a client and request his secretary for the next available slot. She checks her diary and, after a long period of silence, informs you that the next available meeting is ... after a fortnight.

Threatening silence: Your mother-in-law is mad at you because you gifted her a food processor on her birthday. (She has three of those already you realise too late!).

The next day she asks you to pick up your sister-in-law's first cousin's youngest daughter's husband from the airport at 2.30 am on a weekday. There's silence while she awaits your response.

'Cool' silence: Your kids are animatedly discussing fast cars, rap music, the latest mobiles, YouTube, IPhone,
tube totes ... through all the racket, you remain silent. That's because you don't know what they are talking about.

Testing silence: You've just exited the exam hall after a particularly tough exam. Everybody is discussing the question paper and saying how easy the questions were. They turn to you and wait for you to say something. You remain silent.