All about communication

“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.” ― Stephen R. Covey

A sugary babyish voice crisped asking, “how much?” making me turnback to have a glimpse of her. She was around nineteen years old, clad in a track suit and a full sleeved ‘T’ shirt with her curly hair left open. A clump of curls covered her beautiful fair face making her look even more pretty. She had an umbrella and walked uncomfortably in her loose sports sandals. The fruit vendor, a fourteen year old boy said two hundred, now she pointed her finger to the next lot of apples to know the price. He struggled but answered back saying two hundred and sixty. My husband stood at the counter weighing mangoes while I kept selecting a few more. It was bright at about seven in the evening of a weekday. The fruit vendor had the last lot of mangoes called ‘Totapari and Kesar.' 

This year the market was plentiful with mangoes due to a delayed monsoon. Further, there was a ban on the export of mangoes to Europe  on account of a disease in one of the Indian mangoes which led to the assumption that Indian mangoes tend to contract diseases and the European authorities did not want it to spread to Europe. It was indeed a blessing for Indians who could relish mangoes for a low price. With the arrival of monsoon, the market was flooded with apples but we still yearned for a few more mangoes. The fruit vendor was our favourite as this little boy had excellent traits for marketing. We loved talking to him as he spoke a lot about exotic fruits. He sold both indigenous varieties and exotic varieties of cherries, sweet tamarind, apples, corn, figs and peaches. He would talk about these varieties and try to fascinate us at times. We have always appreciated him because of his integrity and forthrightness and his capability to work hard for hours together.We have seen him begin arranging the fruits early in the morning to packing them late in the night. During the afternoons, I have seen him recline on a chair but never leave the stall. I would keep asking him to study, he would always nod his head sideways which meant never.

With the girl asking him the rates for the fruits, he struggled  to answer his best in English. I now felt the girl might ask him in Hindi, she did utter once ‘kitna’ (how much) but again stuck to English. We kept watching as the fruit vendor made an attempt to answer in English. The girl said that she wanted 'four' apples, and began selecting the apples. She was an Indian, but spoke English,  her accent gave away and I asked her whether she was a south Indian. She smiled and asked me wondering how I had known it. I smiled back and told her it was her accent which had revealed it. I saw the expressions on her face change as she heard me say that. She retorted immediately saying I don’t have an accent. I kept looking at her as she said that she spoke only English and no other language making her more unapproachable. We all were silent on hearing her. I jovially asked the fruit vendor in Hindi as to why he had not learnt English. I saw the girl walk away as the boy kept smiling communicating a lot more through his facial expressions. There is a stress in India on learning English as a foreign  language as it is the language of science and technology and a window to the world as proclaimed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, but not knowing an Indian language while residing in India is considered trendy these days and such people are admired for their communication skills. I have heard many say they cannot speak Hindi but are at ease while conversing in English. Any blunder while speaking in English is considered deplorable while that in Hindi is appreciated. Communication is an expertise where the role of language is a mere seven percent, while ninety-three percent includes the non-verbal expression which reveals the moral values of communication. English like any other foreign language can be mastered as a skill with a routine practice but making it a symbol of prestige will unquestionably lower one’s stateliness. Our mother tongue is an acquired language, hence gives us a genuineness which perhaps makes one unique while speaking a foreign language. The role here should be to deliver a message clearly, concisely, correctly above all courteously to communicate one's goals and needs to other people.

“You can talk with someone for years, every day, and still, it won't mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever.... connections are made with the heart, not the  tongue.”   JoyBell C.