On our tour to Uzbekistan, an interesting incident occurred in Samarkhand. We returned from dinner to our lodging. An enthusiastic group from Fergana had organised a dance party. Our group was invited to join.
We swayed to the dance steps, lyrics and music of their Uzbek culture as well as Hindi film songs. We followed their steps. They followed our steps. Our diversity blended to a happy collage of smiles.
By 10pm, the music had to be stopped. But the dancing continued as they sang their songs and we sang a Konkani number. But the most interesting thing happened afterwards. The two nationalities were animatedly interacting with each other for over forty minutes. That they did not understand a single word of each other's language did not matter!
It was a great reminder that no barriers can prevent interaction if there is interest in the other person. We take extra efforts to express and extra efforts to understand if we are interested. It is pertinent to note one of the meanings of the word 'interest': the feeling of wanting to know or learn about something or someone.
The converse is true too. If we are not interested, no common ground will be good enough. Whenever we struggle with interpersonal skills, it could be due to a deficit of 'interest' in the other person.
All interpersonal barriers will be put to rest
When we discover (in the other person) interest!
~ Pravin Sabnis
Tashkent, Uzebekistan
posted on 16 July 2018
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