It's been a while since I wrote but that's been mainly because of too much travel for work and some holiday. The holiday was in India which is a country I've loved since my first visit. I was so pleased to be able to go back.
One thing that struck me and strikes me every time I go to India is how much this is a culture of non-verbal communication (despite at the same time being a culture firmly grounded in the written word). We went to a Kathakali dance performance which we both loved because it was like pantomime and Punch and Judy rolled into one, with amazing beautiful costumes to boot. The skill of the dancers lies in their ability to be able to isolate individual muscles on their neck and face. They move these in combination with hand gestures to express the multitude of human emotions.
But India also communicates on a day to day level. It's particularly visible in the head wagging that you see everywhere. Contrary to some other commentators, for me this head wagging has never signified a concrete yes. Instead it signifies a gesture of awareness. It says "yes, I've noticed you, I'm listening to you, I'm taking in what you are saying". It can also mean a simple exchange of humanity: for me this was most striking when I started wagging my head at people from the bus or boats that we were on. They would often pause and then sort of shake their heads back. For me, it was as if we were saying to each other "yes, you and I, we are both here on this planet and we've just acknowledged each other as human beings". It helped me to forget the slight unease that one often experiences in ex-colonial countries where you are the tourist.
