The Argumentative Indian?

All this while, since she turned 18, she has been working on her skills, whether she liked it or not. It includes the social ones, technical ones and all those required for survival on this planet. And in a hyper-connected world with information flying all around you, some of which you like, some of which is hard to digest and some of which pisses you off, the skill to understand , comprehend , analyse and discuss or rather debate felt really important for her.

And as more people with similar notions got attracted to the idea of owning such a skill, defying the very principles of magnetism, arguments and counter arguments became a part of her daily conversations. As days passed, this became the new normal- the socially accepted way of having a “legit” conversation.

And to get used to with the new normal, she kept working on getting things right and it in turn lead to her becoming better at ‘winning’ an argument. And when winning one gave her, like any one else, a much needed “high” in an otherwise sober life, getting things right evolved in to making things look right for the sake of winning it.And in that pursuit she kept making things look right which lead her to win more often than not. But at what cost ? She never seemed to notice the price you had to pay for it.

And finally today,when you had an unfettered and reckless passion to win that argument with your loved one on the silliest of the topic available, resulting in things turning ugly, she realised in the course of the argument that it could never be won this way. Not getting in to one is the only way to champion it.