All this chatter about Naina’s introverted personality in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani just goes on to remind me of how little people know about introverts. Rather, how generically an introvert is classified as someone who’ll just sit in a corner and stare at the wallpaper. Like most things in life, introverts come in all shapes and sizes and flavors – but the one common thing is probably that they’re not natural joiners. They hate being in crowds (any gathering with more than five people is a crowd, you know that), they’re uncomfortable having the spotlight turned on them, and in the event that everyone at home is away, they’re just happy to potter about in pajamas, doing nothing, enjoying their own company. I know people who are terrified of being left alone – they have to be on the phone, at least, and hear someone’s voice. An introvert, I guess, is the opposite.
All of this is a preamble to thoughts of being an introvert in this age of too-much-sharing. People just assume they know all there is to know about you because… well, haven’t you spilled it all on FB and Twitter? And when they discover a new facet, they’ll say something really annoying and offensive like: “Really? I didn’t know you liked that?” That could be some kind of music, a type of sport, whatever. If you write about movies and music for a living, for example, and if you make a comment about the grand semifinal yesterday, which was more thrilling than anything Hollywood has given us in the past decade, there’ll be a look of surprise at the other end. If you haven’t bleated out your thoughts on some subject, you’re assumed not to have any thoughts on that subject. Whatever happened to the truth that people are deep, deep mysteries, and that you’re only going to skim the surface with most of them?
PS: Despite the fact that this sounds like a rant, it isn’t one. Merely an observation.
PPS: Any resemblance to real people is entirely coincidental — but then you knew that, right?
Baradwaj Rangan 
aditebanerjie
June 8, 2013
After I watched YJHD, Naina didn’t come across an introvert to me. Just because she carries a book on neuroimmunology to a trekking trip? Or is it just because she doesn’t like her loud-mouth mom going on and on about her? A character who is ready to go join a bunch of strangers (Aditi is not really a friend!) on a trip to Manali…. well, that’s not introvert-ish behaviour at all!
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Karthik Srinivasan (@beastoftraal)
June 8, 2013
Mildly related and not connected to films at all – more on the lines of introverts and social media, something you touched briefly in para 2.
The online world as a haven for introverts and the hesitants http://bit.ly/wefppW
“The online world’s lack of immediacy perhaps enables introverts to assume it as a completely democratic forum to air their perspectives without worrying about who (all) is listening to them. Sharing these while seated alone in their bedroom (for example) is perhaps the reason for this behavior change.
On the other hand, I wonder if extroverts would be annoyed with the online world given how everybody speaks up and has a point of view. I’d consider they would be more interested in the real world where they could demonstrate their relative power over larger groups of people, in person.”
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TheKomentor
June 8, 2013
Was expecting an insightful piece on actress suicides.
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Gradwolf
June 8, 2013
hahahaha. I like this. But hey, why not write about sports for a change now that you are out? 😛
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ramitbajaj01
June 8, 2013
May i ask whom were you cheering for yesterday? I was with djoko. Or were you just enjoying good tennis?
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Juhi @ Nooks & Crannies
June 8, 2013
Not sure if you’ve heard of it but there’s an interesting book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I found myself wishing she’d written it 10 years ago. It’s a good read for both introverts and people who want to understand introverts.
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Rahul
June 8, 2013
You may find Walter Mischel’s work in personality theory interesting –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mischel#Contributions_to_personality_theory
He concluded through experiments that traits (introvert,extrovert, punctual etc.) are meaningless – people just react to situations. This also ties into two key concepts of Buddhism ,by the way.(dependent origination and not self)
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Aparna
June 8, 2013
I’ve heard of another definition – that extroverts draw energy from others, whereas introverts feel drained when others are around… Of course, this may or may not be true. In any case, I wouldn’t know; I’m a ‘neither here, nor there’; because while I (usually, unless very sloshed) become very quiet in a room with more than five people, I couldn’t help clapping (mentally, of course) when I heard the dialogue in Great Gatsby that said something about large parties being intimate, and there being no privacy in small gatherings.
PS – I loved the PPS 🙂
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Anu Warrier
June 8, 2013
It’s funny (not funny ha-ha, but funny-strange), but introverts make the same asinine assumptions about extroverts as the latter do about the former. I can be the life of a party, but I do not ‘need’ to be; I have no issue meeting and talking to strangers, and I seem to give off a vibe that leads to people telling me their innermost secrets after meeting me for five minutes, *but* I am NOT on Facebook or Twitter; I love being home on my own and am perfectly capable of keeping myself occupied for more than two minutes. I love company, I don’t need it to survive. What does that make me? [grin]
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desidaaru12
June 8, 2013
Naina was likeable from the get go. I did however cringe at the self-deprecatory speech at the camp before the party, only to have Bunny reassure her that she’s fine the way she is. It seem to exist only to (continue to) make Bunny the ‘saviour’ of Naina in a sense- which seemed dishonest since she’d already made ‘brave’ choices like deciding to go the trip and helping with the escape from the goons.
I disliked Bunny as character. He came off as shallow and narcissistic,even in the second half.Every little epiphany and reflection on his past self-centredness was contrived.
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pr3m
June 8, 2013
Yeah, like you said, introverts come in all sizes. I can’t stand to be with more than a handful of people, but I hate being alone as well.
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venkatesh
June 9, 2013
Another aspect of the internet that really helps introverts – personas. On the internet no one knows you are a dog. You can have multiple personalities all at the same time and no one is the wiser. Of course , as a pre-requisite get rid of your “real” FB, Twitter accounts.
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Shantanu
June 9, 2013
Saw this interesting Ted talk of Susan Cain on power of introverts. http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html
Being an introvert myself, totally relate to Susan’s talk, and your rumination..
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oracle86
June 9, 2013
So where’s your post on the Rafole semifinal? 😉
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sachita
June 9, 2013
There is a whole gamut of people between the introverts and extroverts right?
I like crowd, i like my own company a lot, i am little shy as well.
And i could relate to Naina.
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brangan
June 10, 2013
Going by this email that landed up Lord-knows-how, there *are* perks of being a wallflower 🙂
——————-
Dear adult job seeker,
Thank you for your interest in becoming a pornstar! We are exited to begin working with you and helping you get paid to have sex.
Make sure you white list our email address: support@sexualemployment.com so its not marked as spam or junk mail, as we would not be able to communicate with you about adult job offers.
Open the following link to activate your account:
http://sexualemployment.com/confirmemail.php?id=c7bd7fd944f949ad062e77d31da8a666
Thanks, SexualEmployment.com
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Jai
June 10, 2013
Nice to know you are a tennis fan. So what was your comment on the Blockbuster ‘Ole Vs Nole’ semifinal? (Not my term, by the way) ;-). May we expect an article from you on this Great rivalry?
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Kavitha
June 10, 2013
‘..Whatever happened to the truth that people are deep, deep mysteries, and that you’re only going to skim the surface with most of them?’
..and (I think) it takes a lifetime.
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ram
June 11, 2013
http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/film/features/71-80
Timeout Magazine 100 best scenes of Indian Cinema – Chinna Gounder
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ram
June 11, 2013
http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/film/features/11-20
Veera Pandiya katta bomman
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sara
June 11, 2013
Gives a whole new meaning to “junk” email!
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KK
June 14, 2013
Have you read Garrison Keillor’s essay on “Shy Rights”?
http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/happy-to-be-here.aspx?ViewAll=True#axzz2WBSEUTiL
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