Communication - the sorest spot!
How do you communicate without listening? - you don't. So there is a lot of yak, yak, yak and not much heard and not much absorbed. A lot of hot air – why waste this energy? It would be nice if we could channel all our miscommunication into alternative energy sources for daily and industrial consumption. Given the large quantities of this blah, blah with no result, we might solve our energy needs once and for all. We could become the first nation to talk ourselves out of poverty and satisfy our energy needs – simply by needless talking. And nothing would have to change in our work ethic or productivity. All we would have to do is go right on with the BS that pours forth anyway. I wonder if this conversion of voice energy to useful energy would dampen the noise pollution that persists in all the major big cities. This could be a side benefit. Another added benefit could be to translate all the head shaking into some other mechanical energy – example water pumps working furiously to fill overhead tanks.
This morning I felt a car threaten my walk as it gave sharp jolting screeches every 15 seconds. I peered into it as it went by and had to adjust my gaze to spot the driver sitting very low in the seat. The road was empty but he honked anyway. I concluded that his panoramic vision being limited, he was communicating to all and sundry that he was coming through and to look out for him. Never mind that he made a nuisance of himself everywhere he went.
Communication is probably the sorest spot so far in my return to India. Pick any language – many people will speak it – but only in a half baked way. The words “before” and “after” are interchangeable. Don't trust these words! “Drive past” something is the same as “cross” that thing. “Behind” is used interchangeably with “in front of”. Left and right have been confused more times than I have kept count. And Good and Bad are the only qualitative gradations offered. In my Kannada class one student wanted to write a sentence that was the equivalent of “he was a bitter man”. The question was put to the teacher. The first thing that happened was “bitter” was changed to “angry”. The student protested, to which he waved his hands conclusively “its ok only, basically he is a bad man”. That ended the refined translation.
The question then is: if we don't have the words to describe our subtle feelings and thoughts, do these atrophy over time? Or is it that the atrophy happened first and hence we lost our need for such description? My observation has been that people talk and talk using excessively simple language, resulting in poor information flow. The listener – who really does not listen – but lets just call him (her) that, for the sake of hopeful description- shakes head from side to side and more often than not speaks simultaneously. So the words are thrown out into the air. At some point one or the other person abruptly puts an end to the conversation, either because he does not like what is being said, or because enough has been said and the air is saturated with unheard words perhaps, or simply because its time to do something else. This in my experience is a conversation.
What's more if you follow one of these conversationalists to their next conversation, the previous conversation will be reported on, but with little semblance to what was said. The only give away clue might be something like “ I was talking to X just now”. So what is going on all over India? Is it just possible that this society is in such an advanced state that the real communication is going on between invisible antennas to which I am not party? This would explain for example why everyone talks at the same time – the antenna will absorb – no need to listen. For lesser mortals like me frustration and a sense of energy wasted is a net result.
This morning I felt a car threaten my walk as it gave sharp jolting screeches every 15 seconds. I peered into it as it went by and had to adjust my gaze to spot the driver sitting very low in the seat. The road was empty but he honked anyway. I concluded that his panoramic vision being limited, he was communicating to all and sundry that he was coming through and to look out for him. Never mind that he made a nuisance of himself everywhere he went.
Communication is probably the sorest spot so far in my return to India. Pick any language – many people will speak it – but only in a half baked way. The words “before” and “after” are interchangeable. Don't trust these words! “Drive past” something is the same as “cross” that thing. “Behind” is used interchangeably with “in front of”. Left and right have been confused more times than I have kept count. And Good and Bad are the only qualitative gradations offered. In my Kannada class one student wanted to write a sentence that was the equivalent of “he was a bitter man”. The question was put to the teacher. The first thing that happened was “bitter” was changed to “angry”. The student protested, to which he waved his hands conclusively “its ok only, basically he is a bad man”. That ended the refined translation.
The question then is: if we don't have the words to describe our subtle feelings and thoughts, do these atrophy over time? Or is it that the atrophy happened first and hence we lost our need for such description? My observation has been that people talk and talk using excessively simple language, resulting in poor information flow. The listener – who really does not listen – but lets just call him (her) that, for the sake of hopeful description- shakes head from side to side and more often than not speaks simultaneously. So the words are thrown out into the air. At some point one or the other person abruptly puts an end to the conversation, either because he does not like what is being said, or because enough has been said and the air is saturated with unheard words perhaps, or simply because its time to do something else. This in my experience is a conversation.
What's more if you follow one of these conversationalists to their next conversation, the previous conversation will be reported on, but with little semblance to what was said. The only give away clue might be something like “ I was talking to X just now”. So what is going on all over India? Is it just possible that this society is in such an advanced state that the real communication is going on between invisible antennas to which I am not party? This would explain for example why everyone talks at the same time – the antenna will absorb – no need to listen. For lesser mortals like me frustration and a sense of energy wasted is a net result.
posted by Iss Desh ki Dharti at
11:18 PM
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