Table for ONE

Ever asked that aloud at a restaurant? Or waited for the server to come to you and ask you “For how many mam?” and you reply in an almost-whisper..... “One”.

Why are we afraid of our own company? Why do we need people around us all the time? Don’t get me wrong, I WANT people I love and like around me. But do I NEED them? And do I want them EVERYTIME? No. Not really. I doubt many of us do. But we are afraid to exhibit that in public.

It’s customary to be by yourself in confines of your home or in ‘acceptable’ places like a spa or a library. But sitting by yourself in a cafe or the movies tantamount to blasphemy!

Man is a social creature. But aren’t there times we when have had enough of society? When all you want is to curl up and read a book on a comfy sofa but you want it to be outside your home, perhaps at your favourite cafe?

When you want to see and hear the rain fall on the grass and be refreshed by the green all around you, without having to say a word about it to anyone? Just feel it...without expressing it? When you want to experience the peace of solitude without the aid of your iPod, your book or your laptop?

I will be honest...I have not reached that stage as yet myself. If I am by myself, I NEED my book with me, or at least my iPod or laptop. Like right now I am typing my random thoughts on my laptop from a small island-resort in Langkawi while sitting on the veranda lobby. (And there is a couple making out right in front of me- rather distracting. Wish they would get a room, we are in a resort after all!)

But hey! Who am I to judge? Aren’t I the one holidaying on my own, sitting on a very comfy armchair typing away to glory without exchanging a word with anyone?

Let’s just live and let live. Don’t judge people by their choices whether it is to be by themselves, or with others.

On a farewell note, I read this quote many years ago and it stayed with me- Solitude is a nice place to visit but not a good place to stay. So I am off to meet other people on this gorgeous island. And look here, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining down. Time to head to the beach (with my book of course, in case I need to be alone again, I need my prop ;)