Perception of Insecurity

"You are not drinking my friend!!", I said as I looked at my friend Sachin. So far, he smoked fourteen cigarettes(well, technically he smoked seven as he smokes only half of every cigarette)

"I made up my mind to propose Mitali", he said, removing a ring from his pocket. "Kitne ka hein?", I asked looking at the ring, pretending that I know a lot about diamonds. "Fourty two grands!", he said. I was betting on seven eight thousand, so I placed the expensive ring in its expensive box and handed it back to him. My subconscious mind decided that I will pay today's bill. I looked at him and said, "Congrats yaar! Tu bada aadmi baan gaya!! Bindhast reh ... tension maat le, she will say yes." Sachin shook his head and said, "Gauresh, I know she will say yes! But what will happen after that?"

In the next thirty minutes, Sachin told me about what kind of expenses he forsees after he gets married (moving out of his parent's house, new furniture, etc). He was worried that he might not be able to fulfill basic financial needs after spending on these things. I thought about advising him to run away and get married in a court (to cut off marriage and reception cost) and to go for a honeymoon to Dubai (where rates would have fallen drastically by then) but knowing him, Mitali and their middle-class-yet-insanely-spending family, I decided to avoid that conversation.

"Your glass is half empty", I said changing my topic to an all time favorite... drinking!! Sachin got irritated and said, "My future looks screwed up and you are worried about beer??? If it is half empty, it can be refilled!!!"

"Thats my point!" I said, thumping the table loud enough to gather unwanted attention. "The perception of insecurity!! Insecure people worry about reaching the bottom of the glass... the confident ones know that there is a lot of beer for everyone!!"

Sachin looked up and nodded. But I wanted to give him his own example. I said, "You dont feel insecure about Mitali and therefore you bought this ... ring", As I said this, I thought about a lot of appropriate and inappropriate adjectives to describe the ring. "Get rid of your insecurity, talk to Mitali, take wise decisons and you will find a way out!!" I didnt see a change in Sachin's expression, but I told myself that he bought my point. Either it was my over-confidence telling me this or the miracle that he smoked his cigaratte completly.

Sachin got up with an appropriate expression on his face when Mitali arrived. I exchanged pleasantaries with Mitali and they took off. Before leaving, Sachin turned back and said, "Gauresh, you should start drinking.... see how much it teaches you!!"

I smirked and replied, "I learn from other people's mistakes!"

-----------STATUTORY WARNING------------
CIGARETTE SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH.