The Trap of "I am not an Extrovert"
It was one of those farewell dinners we had hosted back in college. I was in my third year of college. I was surrounded by two batches of juniors and two batches of seniors in the same party. And being the elected governor of the club, my job was to ensure that the younger ones learn and have a good time with the seniors.
On this one particular night, a lot of people were bonding, and it was amazing. But then I saw this young boy sitting in the corner by himself. Let’s call him Aditya. It was a bit dark and Aditya was trying to just get by, unnoticed. He looked overwhelmed and disinterested. I went up to him with a big smile and a lot of kindness, and said - “Hey man, what’s up? Why don’t you approach and talk to a few here? They are friendly, you know. I know you like Open Source, so maybe talk to that guy (pointing to a senior of mine) and ask him how he got started. :)”.
His response that day still echo in my ear. It felt like a voice coming out from a closed heart. And my words had fallen flat on him. He said, with a smirk, “I am not an extrovert”.
