At the risk of sounding desperate...Wanted: Friends

Moving to Doha has put T and me in a rather precarious position. We have been in Doha for over half a year and still do not have many friends. Does that sound trivial to you? Or not a matter to be addressed, in a public forum like this one? If so, then I strongly disagree. Could you simply picture yourself and your better half, sitting in a busy restaurant, eating a meal? Pretty romantic isn’t it? But how about increasing the frequency to every weekend, month after month? Hmm...? I rest my case.
By now you must be drawing up conclusions, similar to what I had arrived at too. We are boring people! That’s it. That is what me and T thought and accepted for a while. However we began to think otherwise when we realised that we did have a couple of friends in UAE. So then what is it that went wrong? Me? Him?? Or both of us???
I have finally weeded out all the crazy, zany reasons and have arrived at one assumption, which combines the following –
i) We are married, and
ii) We don’t have children yet.
What? Seems outrageous to you? It isn’t. Think carefully. Single people do not really prefer hanging out with married people. Reasons are myriad and most often then not whimsical. Married people tend to advise single people to get married. Married couples are uninteresting compared to singles. Some married people have this ‘holier-than-thou attitude, even though they weren’t even close to H in Holy, when single. It also annoys single people that a couple always looks so happy and sport that million watt smile through out. So that one reason is justified.
Now the next problem according to me is that we don’t have children, yet. That alienates us from the ‘Bunch with broods’. Parents can bond over a lot. Nappy rashes, school complaints, PTAs, play dates and lots of other ‘Parent-y’ stuff. Parents have a lot of responsibilities and do not hang out late at weekends, or binge booze. So we lose out in that aspect as well.
Now, the next likely question will be? What happened to all the couples still stuck in between ‘Just married’ and ‘Proud parents’? Good question. However that partciluar kind seems scarce. Not a lot of people stall between Marriage and babies, or at least we haven’t been lucky enough to come across some. Hence, that leaves just the two of us. T and me. I sometimes feel this is how it was meant to be. This stage is where you spend most of your time with your partner and grow real close. It's the marvellous time to love, learn and grow till it’s time to graduate to the next level.

Isn’t it cold out there?

I will bet my new Camelskin ( Read:Imaginary) Prada, that a majority of you people are reading this scribble only because it had something to do with the weather. Oh come on, admit it. We all love dissecting the weather.A study conducted by the Institute of Conversational skills vis-à-vis Weather, establishes rather firmly that something like ninety six point eight eight per cent of us mortals break the ice by discussing the weather.Like the other day I shared the lift with a cute, bent old Filipino lady. Smiles exchanged, I began studying the needles of my watch….I think they are little crooked, with the daily wear and tear, you know? And Go! “Isn’t it cold out there?” Enquired my new Lift-Friend. “Oh yes it is”…pat came my reply. “You see I wanted d to go grocery shopping, you see I do it every Thursday. But now this cold is making it difficult to walk around. Now I have to wait for my sister who lives in Bur Dubai to come. She comes to my house on weekends, that is if she is not busy. You know how these hotels jobs are ? So very busy.” All the while I keep smiling along with thinking what information of my life I could possibly share with her in return for a synopsis on her weekend routine and some more info on her kith and kin. In the meanwhile I am aware that this cute lady has her family in Philippines and is going to visit them shortly, precisely on January 24th. Ok, finally the chime rings for the 13th floor and she waves a quick bye. I say bye too and add a See you soon…she holds the door for a moment and says. “It was good talking to you. Really. See you dear.”Now if your wondering where I am heading towards, my point was Thanks to the weather, not forgetting the bitter cold weather, I now have new friend on the 13th level of my building. I gathered she is lonely, and I could do with going over for a hot cuppa-joe. Whaddya say?So no matter what I started out with I am glad I made a new friend…and that too thanks to the weather. So then go ahead discuss the weather. Make a difference to someone’s gloomy evening. Hey, isn’t it really cold today?