#33: House Parties & Maslow

Nishad Shah
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read
Source: Phdcomics

It was just another one of those Saturday nights. I was contemplating whether to spend yet another night promising myself to be productive and instead binge on Netflix or venture out and save the depleting sense of human connection by meeting some friends despite having nothing eventful to share. I decided to do the latter.

Phase 1: ‘Show me the money’

The flow of such gatherings has become quite cliché now — first, there’s a session of small talk where everyone happily engages in the work others are doing, asks deep, curious questions and tries to show how they understand and appreciate the work so much. “What’s your current case and problem statement?”, What do you do as a sales manager, tell me more?” By the time everyone has soaked in the gory work hours in banking/consulting or the funny distributor tales in sales, you are a couple of drinks and pizza slices down.

Phase 2: ‘Suicide!’ (Sholay)

As the liquor glasses are refilled with more fuel, the cocktail gets a lemon of emotion into it. The topic transcends quickly from “What I do?” to “How I feel?” And it’s a big crib fest, a fest bigger than the tents of Oktoberfest as no one runs out of stories. From the painful boss to the personal time loss, from the missed lunches to the perpetual hunches, from the trivial work to the RG* worker — nothing is spared the arrow. It sometimes amazes you to see how people you never thought would share things with you openly share such important aspects of your lives. By now, the crowd has also reduced, shredding off all the free drinkers and leaving only the ‘people who matter.’

Phase 3: ‘Nostalgia Trip’

It is at this point that the totally randomized playlist (based on your Youtube searches for the past millennium) will throw a senti song which reminds you of college. And you’ll start reminiscing ‘the good old days’ and repeat the same stories you did in the last party as well, but no one still complains — everyone has phased you out already.

Phase 4: ‘Who am I underneath?’

By now, the Playlist witch has spun her wand again and has changed gears, from Hindi to regional (mostly Punjabi). The mood lits up, as lights become dimmer and people start dancing, which has come to mean any movement of limbs. The more unsynchronized the movement, the better the dance. In corporate parties, you’d have the social pressure to show off your dancing moves to your boss as if your promotion depends on it. However, here everyone is in their natural state — of giving zero fucks. So you move like an air puppet across the hall enjoying only the alcoholic breeze. After some time, you are tired of dancing to Zingaat or Malhaari, and want to just slouch, listen to soulful music and sleep.

If you notice closely, the flow of the party apes Maslow’s hierarchy quite well — moving from purely functional to emotional (feelings and relationships) to self. In that sense, it can be argued that you live your entire life in each such party. Quite a good reason to attend house parties, must say! :)

P.S. RG is an envious sadist.

Just out of college

Tales of a toad thrown in a new lake

Nishad Shah

Written by

Deft Dilettante. Pseudo-intellectual show-off.

Just out of college

Tales of a toad thrown in a new lake

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