[elmerfud]

I think you may be taking the advice of asking questions to literally if you're associating the term interrogate with it. Any conversation is a series of statements to solicit responses. This can be direct questions but it can also be thought provoking statements. Generally you'll start with a question and go from there. Everything you say should evoke or invite a response. If it doesn't the conversation ends.

You don't say the purpose of meeting the strangers but in a general sense I do it by placing myself in situations of shared similar interests. Doing this means that questions feel less like an interrogation because everyone is there for a similar purpose.