Overdressed

Sometimes I feel a little overdressed and slyly take my earrings off, or take a bangle off and put in in my bag. I avoid people, just so that I don't have to become friends with them, so I don't have to keep up with them, or tell them who's pictures I have on my wall. I hide the fact that I can sketch peoples faces so that they don't ask me why I study politics instead of art. Hey, you should draw me? I cringe. I nod. I smile. Say thank you.
And the Delhites I know aren't slow, and the Lahories I know aren't weird, and the Iranians I know aren't touchy. I don't look people in the eye when I talk to them. Makes me assume that maybe they're not looking at me, which makes me comfortable. That's why I remember what color shirt you wore. That your hair was long. What you said the first time we met, where we met. It was raining by the way. I cringe. I nod. I smile. Say thank you.
Your flipflops. Your kaulapuris. Your converse all-stars.
Its not about being different. Just out of place. Circle without the centre.