The cafetaria was crowded with groups of people chatting away their platters. There were no people at the cafetaria, just these groups - everyone with someone. Office talk, home talk, project talk; gossips, judgments and rants; the meandering conversations, the pointless blabber and the fake forced nods. Amid these wailing herds of people, all flowing with the flow, it is quite intimidating to pick a place all by yourself, just for yourself. Eating lunch alone isn't a cake walk.
Social ostracisation is the first thing one tries to hide when going for a lonely lunch. The first thought of eating alone ushers in feelings of humongous misery and self doubt. At the other end of the spectrum, a person who sits in a large group of colleagues or friends considers himself more successful, both professionally as well as socially. We as a society too like to pity people who eat alone, always assuming that eating alone is not a choice they make, but a misery they are forced to live by.
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| Powerful, inspiring, and arousing. |
But, on the contrary, eating alone is powerful, inspiring, and arousing. It carries with it a sense of being in control - there is absolutely anything one may think about, anything one may read, anything one may look at, and anyone one may stare. Sadly though, the unwritten rules of modern day socialisation force us to be with someone all the time, while preventing us from being with ourselves, and preventing us from understanding that there is no better investment than to progressively know ourselves a little better every day. During our days that are usually crowded with dozens of voices of dozens of people, a quiet lunch all on your own is a rare opportunity to retrospect and introspect what was, and to plan what will be. It is also an opportunity to communicate with yourself, and to know the most important person in your life - YOU.
When eating alone there is a host of things you can do, the most important being just bonding with your food and taking in the aromas, the tastes, and the beauty that are served on your platter. You can read articles on your phone to gain more knowledge every day, utilising a time you thought never existed. You can also just look at the things and the people around you, appreciating how the new plants and flowers add to the beauty of your environs, or how the new muscular hunk raises the ambient temperature whenever he enters the premises. Moreover, you can just think about where you are headed, about what you value the most in life, about what you consider truly important in your profession, or about how you plan to reach where you always wanted to be. The senseless chatter of a herd often shrouds these most cherished and important things in life.
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| The pleasures of eating alone - bonding with your lunch, just you and the food |
Moreover, from the point of view of a keen observer, the people who eat alone, and do it confidently, exude an almost magnetic sense of power and control, and look more focused toward their purposes in life, than the ones who herd together for lunch. Whenever I sit for lunch - my lunches these days being more in herds than on my own - I instantly feel attracted and connected to people who are eating alone. I feel these people are the ones who are in touch with themselves and who are independent enough to not force themselves to be WITH people, just because, it is the socially acceptable thing to do.
My opinion here might be influenced to some extent by my own days of yore - not of yore but of a more recent past, obviously - when I loved eating alone. I would never wait to gather a herd - something most people look for these days - and would instead just head for lunch when hungry. When I was at the food court one of the most important things was to not be inconspicuous. I would always make sure I chose a table right at the center of the cafetaria and ate my lunch with a princely confidence. I would also read articles on my phone, look at the trees, the buildings and the traffic around, and stare the judgmental in the eye to let them know I gave no shit for what they thought. Also, obviously, as an added bonus, I would cherish this chance to ogle at the hot guys around.
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| A view not ever appreciated by a herd, but only by a lonely keen observer. |
All in all, there has been not one moment when I have regretted my lonely lunches, because I know that the habit of chatting away my platter would have certainly prevented me from experiencing the wonderful pleasures of a lonely luncheon.
So maybe, the next time you see a person eating alone, remember, they too have their arguments and they too have their story.
