Stand-up comic Kautuk Srivastava will talk about his most embarrassing moments at an upcoming gig in Mumbai

A bit of an oddball by his own admission, Srivastava says his life has been a series of socially awkward moments one after another

Kautuk Srivastava

In 25 years, Kautuk Srivastava has never sent a dish back to the kitchen at a restaurant, even if he has found a nausea-inducing strand of hair in the food. "That's because I want to avoid having any sort of conversation with the chef or the waiter," he says. A bit of an oddball by his own admission, Srivastava says his life has been a series of socially awkward moments one after another. "I think all of us come with a default emotion, and mine happens to be awkwardness. It's my factor setting," he says. Culling some of the most embarrassing moments from his life and the observations he has gathered from the sidelines, Srivastava will present a one-hour stand up act titled Anatomy of Awkward at the Barking Deer BrewPub next week.

While he may avoid meeting new people like a plague, Srivastava is surprisingly more than comfortable when he takes to stage. "In fact, most comedians happen to be socially awkward. Comedy is their way of telling gawky introverts like me that you aren't alone. Someone needs to represent us," says the Lower Parel resident. For Srivastava the decision to make a joke of his awkwardness came about when he decided to accept this trait. "Embracing it helps you get past it." A writer by profession, Srivastava feels the most intriguing part about awkwardness is that unlike other emotions, the more you avoid it, the more awkward it gets.

But there's a silver lining to the whole situation. "I tend to get paralysed at every new situation in my life, be it my first day at a new office or first date. If I don't feel awkward, it means nothing has changed. How will you evolve if you things don't change?"

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