Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Stop staring at me!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever felt absolutely conscious of yourself when you walk through a reading room or study room, that is filled with students, in a library? I know I have. I feel conscious of every move of mine, from the point when I enter the hall, till I find a seat and noisily open my bag to get my notes out to read. Funnily enough, I have never felt conscious of myself when I walk down the aisle in a movie theatre to find my seat or even in a lecture theatre. Even when the lecturer has started class and I get in late, I don't feel as conscious of myself as I do when I enter a place like the study area or the reading rooms in the library. I have often wondered why. Why is there a difference between walking into a crowded movie or lecture theatre and a not-so-crowded library.

I finally discovered the answer when I was at the library today. I made my usual entrance in the reading room and quickly found my seat and started studying. Thats when the answer dawned upon me!

When you are sitting in a movie theatre (for example), you are too busy chatting with your friends or watching the movie. But whatever it is, you are too busy to notice the people who enter. Even in a lecture theatre, unless the lecturer is hopelessly boring, you tend to focus your attention on taking down notes. Here again, you couldn't care less about who walks in and when. Whereas in a library, everything is quiet. You can't talk to your friends. You can't walk around or pace around in a reading room. You have to sit in one spot and try to just concentrate on that sheet of paper sitting on the table. Watching people coming in and settling down to study is quite a distraction for the mind which is under strain. Strained because you force it to concentrate only in one area. Hence you resort to welcoming even the most minor distraction. All of a sudden somebody entering the room is interesting. All of a sudden, somebody who gets up for a small stretch is immensely entertaining. All of a sudden, every movement or sound that you hear is highly distracting.

Then it occured to me.. if this is true with me, it must be true with the others when they sit in the reading room. Sub consciously, I am aware that people are staring at me! When I enter, I am moving about, thats entertaining for the poor bored souls. When I take out my notes from the bag, I make noise, thats distracting for the jobless students. Some of them welcome the distraction because it wakes them up, some of them grumble because they are already having difficulties trying to stay awake and studying and the distraction is not helping them one bit. Hence they stare at me and I feel more conscious when I enter a crowded library than when I enter a crowded theatre!!!

I AM A GENIUS TO HAVE FIGURED THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D

4 comments:

Anusha said...

Haha!! Interesting observation.

Though, I DO feel quite conscious even when I'm entering late for a lecture. Or when I'm reading in a class...and I know everyone's focusing their attention on me. Or when someone asks me to sing. Its all the same...I get quite self-conscious whenever I do something that requires people to turn their attention towards me. :/

WV: lrnio. Sounds like someone wants me to stop fooling around and start learning. Of course, also sounds like this certain someone is Italiano!! ;)

Anonymous said...

that's an interesting concept. makes sense :)

Tarun said...

Never walk to the library alone. :-P

Macho Girl said...

#clueless
lectures don't really bother me. singing does. But its been a long time since anyone asked me to sing!

#ann@
:D

#tarun
haha. I learnt that lesson!!! Now a days i try to go in there only when my friends are around! :D