Relating

Surrounded with chatter so unfamiliar it sounded like a babel of foreign languages, I sat there in silence, barely tasting the congee that sat in front of me. At break time, my colleagues usually talk about things that I cannot relate to: television shows I do not watch, movies I have never seen, music I cannot stand, ‘in’ places I have never been to, and stuff I am not—and could never be—interested in. It is as if they inhabit an entirely different world from the one I live in, a world for those whose concerns are opposite to mine.

Wrapped in self-imposed obscurity, I sat there in silence, marveling at how effortless they relate with one another and wondering why I cannot.