America, life, my crazy days

“Don’t be talking to a stranger. Stranger means danger.”

There are are some days that are perfect. It’s a bright sunny day out. There is a heat wave(!) and you are sitting in a perfectly cooled cafe with a perfectly cooled mint iced coffee, reading a book you are completely engrossed in. You are one with character and you can actually feel the..

“Are you Palestinian Mozlim?”

“Umm, no. I’m Indian Muslim.”

Puzzled look. “Ohhh. Indian?!”


“Are you from the part of India that is near Pakistan?”

“No. I’m from the south, Chennai.”

“I know many Braaahmins from there. So what do I see when I visit India?”

Yeah, I just want to get back to my book. It’s very hard for me to get “in the zone” when I read a book. Although I love to read, I am constantly distracted (thanks again to technology for my short attention span). I need to be comfortable enough, have a good reading snack, the light should be just right, etc. And it annoys me to no end when people want to make conversation thereby interrupting me.

Interruption, whether I’m reading, writing or even thinking, muddles up my line of thought. I’m sure most people feel that way so why would you interrupt some one who is completely smitten by her book. Okay fine, I interrupt my husband every now and then when he is reading but I married him. I have every right to demand his attention. You, however, are a stranger. The one my mother warned me about when she said “Don’t talk to strangers”. You have no right to drag me away from my book and force me in to having a conversation.

I wanted to tell him thanks for the attempt at conversation, good sir but I need to get back to my book. How can I say that without sounding rude? What is the polite way of telling someone, especially a stranger, to leave you the heck alone when you are in the midst of doing something?


7 thoughts on ““Don’t be talking to a stranger. Stranger means danger.”

  1. Is there really a good way? I would love to know as well since I never know what to say so as to get on with whatever it was I was doing.

  2. Es chris says:

    Not just when reading a book, there are so many moments in life, when people keep pestering you, when you feel that you were better left alone, and it feels worse when it is a known person that you have to be diplomatic and can’t get simply get away..

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