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Monday, July 21, 2014

The intricacies of the side hug

I can do a lot of things - a successful side hug is not one of them.

About five years ago, I evolved from the arms-on-shoulder girl to a bear-hug woman. The sheer joy of giving and receiving so much love in a simple platonic strong-hold is so comforting. But, for the life of me, I cannot master the side-hug. There are a lot of mind-blocks attached to it:

  • It seems akin to air-kissing - the half-heartedness of it.
  • I never know when which hug is intended.
  • Arm pits. Enough said.

Considering that the Side-Hug is the new Hand Shake, I had resigned myself to accept and practice it.

But then, the inevitable mortifying episode happened. I had to meet the partner of my firm - in a hotel - for dinner (All hints for why I thought this was semi-casual). I come in, and he gets up and says in genuine pleasure, "It's so nice to see you!", with arms wide open. Obviously pleased, I go straight on and hug him. 
Turns out, it was meant to be a side hug. For a full 2 seconds, I am awkwardly wrapped around him, and he is trying to bring me to the side.
So, I made a mental note :

  1. No hug, until it is initiated.
  2. Only side-hugs with bosses.

Things were falling into place, when 2 days back, the same thing happened with a colleague of mine. Giraffe that she is, It was really awkward that I was standing on my toes, going all out, while she is wondering what to do.

Seriously, I give up. New rule - Only Side-hugs. Period. If you come and go all frontal on me, I'll go berserk.

2 comments:

Seema said...

Hey Archana,

We’re soon nearing the end of this year and stepping onto 2015. A lot happened across the blogosphere this year; I was amused to catch up on so many new events when I opened my Reader after a long hibernation. The beginning of this year and the last saw a bunch of us bloggers participating in a month long marathon. It was fun, crazy, exciting, hectic and absolutely insane. I thought we must continue with the tradition in the upcoming year as well. Would you like to join the madness this time too? Please drop me an email if you are interested at kamathseema1@gmail.com

Thanks,
Seema

Jai said...

It has taken me years to come to terms with the normal hug.. and now when you say "Side-Hugs is the new Handshake" it gives me shivers ! :)