When I first thought about starting a cafe, the thought was inspired more by the feeling around a cafe - a meeting place for people. For them to sit together, spend a few hours talking, connecting, relaxing and being themselves. And the more places I visit, and more I observe people, it only reaffirms this feeling.
Juhu Beach, Mumbai 2013
For me none of the virtual social platforms can come anywhere close to meeting people physically.
And the biggest reason for this is the fact that as humans we all have layers. And not just that, we also have images, complexes, presumptions and very little attention span.It takes time to be ourselves. It takes courage to have a meaningless conversation which may eventually lead to something deep and true.What we think we may not say explicitly, what we say, does not necessarily mean exactly that.140 characters really cannot begin to contain our personality.The pictures of our surroundings don't necessarily reflect our true emotions. And I guess this attempt of over-simplification and extreme acceleration of 'connectivity' between humans to some extent puts me off popular social media as a means of really connecting with people.
Popular 'chaat' places on Juhu Chowpatty
Nevertheless, I cannot deny the obvious benefits of the medium and it's best feature being a global online address book. (I am told, one should always let the computer do, what it is good at.)
Left on my own, it is far too easy for me to just drift away. In fact after a while, the drifting is so automatic, that I don't even realize it. But every so often, sitting around people, some of whom I only see once a year, some far less frequently, some with whom I may have shared a cup of coffee or a 'cutting' chai in the past, (with the addition of a relatively slow internet connection), I feel suddenly grounded and in a not so scary way.
