The Inscrutable Indian Nod

The other day, a colleague wanted my opinion on a chart she’d compiled. “What do you think? Is this fine?”, she asked. I gave her what I thought was an enthusiastic nod to indicate, “Bilkul perfect! Lage raho”, only to receive a puzzled stare in return. Maybe I wasn’t vigorous enough, I thought. So I cranked up the amplitude and frequency of head motion. At this, she threw her hands up in exasperation and demanded, “Is that a yes or a no?”

Apparently, she’s not the only one confounded by the Indian art of non-committal nodding. Of course we know that nodding vertically indicates ‘yes’ and shaking our heads horizontally indicates ‘no’. I guess it’s just that we:

• Don’t want to offend with the wrong answer
• Prefer not coming across as too opinionated
• Like to keep an escape route open, in case things turn bad if action is taken on the basis of our head movements

 

It took me more than five years of living abroad to learn that I don’t nod right! Living outside one’s homeland is full of similar revelations.

For instance, I never thought I had a head for figures (of the numerical variety). That is not the case. No one can think of more ways of stretching a dollar that yours truly. Fortunately, it’s for the likes of me that trueroots exists. I’m chatty, cheesy, cheery and cheap. I love talking (in cyberspace and over the phone) of cabbages and kings and hate having to pay too much for anything. So for international calls, I won’t use any old phone card. I use trueroots.