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Friday, June 22, 2012

North South Divide :Perception and Communication

During a party in the officers' mess, there was a disruption in power supply. Amidst several 'oh no ' and some unprintable words, there were two distinct voices, "light gayi" and "current gayi" . 

The vast variance in Perception and Communication, by different people in similar circumstances, is so  fascinating. The way you perceive, dictates how you communicate or behave.

There was a time when the concept of electrical power was not there. When it did come, in North India, it was associated with its most visible aspect , ie light, in South India , it was associated with the underlying  phenomenon , ie 'Current". 

To cite more examples  of the way people  perceive and communicate , what is mobile phone or 'mobile' in the north is a 'cell phone' or simply 'cell' in the South. A filling station is 'Petrol Pump' in the North while 'Petrol Bunk ' in the south.

To go further, in the North, any examination is simply 'paper' , which I presume is short for 'the question paper'; marks are just numbers, a network is just 'tower' (can be used as, 'yahan , tower nahin hain'; meaning 'this place has no access to network').  In short, what is most visible, or just the first word is used to communicate the idea. It can also lead to some ludicrous terms, like "Old faridabad" referred to as 'old' and platform tickets as 'platform'.

May be that is  how everything is perceived in the North.  'hamen kaam se matlab hai, kaida-kanoon se kya  lena dena hai" (We are concerned with the proceeds not the processes.) and may be, the perception leads to disdain for systems and processes.

Just as I was writing this, my son tells me that among sailors, the certificate issued to them for proof of address or proof of identity is simply referred to as "to whomsoever", since such certificates have a heading "TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN". It can be used as 'mujhe ek whomsoever chahiye" or "I want a 'whomsoever' ".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Want to add one more here: In the north, they "give" exams. In the south, they "take" exams. Beats me why... I can only arrive at this conclusion. In malayalam, we say "exam edakkan poyi" - he went to "take" (exact meaning would be like, lift an object) an exam. In Hindi we say "wo paper de ne gaya". Which is, he's gone to give the paper. Yeah, your conclusion is right. Unko "proceeds" se matlab hai, process se nahin.

colmurali said...

True. There are so many ...I have stopped counting .. They don't write cheques but 'cut' cheque. I have even heard this usage translated to English. they don't deposit cash but 'paisa Bharte hain' ..they don't apply for a post . Foram (Form) Bharte hain. and it goes on...
It is all fine. Every language and culture has its nuances, but what really beats me is their conviction of their right to be wrong and their right to correct others to their way .