What it means when a stranger strikes a conversation with you

While waiting for a cab, rickshaw or bus, very often, you may have noticed that someone may offer to help you hail the vehicle. Although this could be a sincere offer, it could also be an excuse to strike a conversation with a complete stranger. The person may try to befriend and woo you, if everything goes as planned. Now, a survey by a dating app has given a whole new perspective to this style of approaching people. According to the survey by the dating app Happn, people in a relationship are more likely to engage in a conversation with someone they don’t know in a public place than a person who is single. The findings of the survey may come as a surprise to most of us. Wasn’t it a given that the person who tries to talk to a stranger, with the intention of wooing him or her, is supposed to be single?

BABY STEPS

Relationship expert Dr Vishnu Modi believes that those in relationships may strike conversations with strangers without the intention of dating. He says that such people try to test the waters first. Modi says, “When people from the opposite sex talk to strangers, the kind of reaction they get at first is very important. If the person, whom they approach, appears receptive to them, they take it ahead from there. In most cases, someone won’t talk to a stranger, if he or she has seen her or him for the first time at a particular place. An individual will try talking to a person only if he or she has seen someone at a particular location very often.” Modi says the next step would be asking for his or her phone number. “However, getting the phone number doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has fallen for you. If dating him or her is your intention, then pursuing this person for long may give you your desired results. So, dating someone you spoke to at a mall for the first time isn’t that easy after all.”

TAKING RISKS

But what about people who are already in a relationships? Consultant psychiatrist Riddhish K Maru believes that people who are dating do this because they want to try new options. He says, “Too often, over a period of time, existing relationships lose their charm. It’s only people in such relationships who look for new options.”

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