Indian Gestures – Communicating in An Uncommunicative Way

It was 9.50 am when I reached the metro station from where I am to board an auto-rickshaw (Three wheeled cab mostly found in south and south-east Asia) for my office. Damn my previous night party for me to wake up this late today. As soon as I started looking around for three wheelers, 3-4 of them sprung up.

Now, the hardest part of boarding an auto-rickshaw; ‘negotiation of fare’. Here, in Delhi, NO auto-rickshaw driver gives a damn about the rules and regulations setup by Government. If you are a frequent traveler, you can tell whether the bargained fare is good or not. If you are a seasoned traveler these drivers can certainly take you for a ride with a fare that digs a big hole in your pocket.

At last when I asked such a driver, he just made a gesture with his hand which I thought meant that he is saying NO. However, to my surprise as soon as I turned back, he started calling me and asked me to board.

Ah! GESTURE/SIGNS, maybe these were the first things with which we human tried to communicate with each other. Millions of years have passed since that age. Yet, we Indians are still making such gestures to complete our communication. I am not questioning the usability of such gestures/signs, I am just questioning whether the one to whom one is gesturing would be able to perceive the communication. Aren’t we prone to miscommunication at such juncture?

I believe, the auto-rickshaw driver I encountered today was someone who was so stressed that he was in no mood to talk or maybe it was just his habit of saying. However, what I certainly believe is that, I just did not understand the way he was communicating.