When in
India, one might come across a strange head movement, which is neither a “Yes”
( Up-down head nod) nor a “No” (right-left head movement). This is somewhere in
between, side to side heading movement, typically known as “Indian Head
Wobble”. There were many blogs and videos on this specific head gesture, while
some made sense, most didn’t.
So, why do
we find this head movement only in India? Where and how did it originate from?
To know
the answer, I travelled to a lot of places and interviewed people of all age.
Let me give you a little brief about India. India is a country famous for its
diversity. It is the home of many cultures, languages and music. There are also
some very opposite traits to be found here. For eg- North and West Indian women
have comparatively lower pitched voice than East and South Indian women. South
Indians are very active in using hand gestures compared to the north Indians.
Therefore
after visiting and researching about the gestures, I concluded that the “Indian
Head Wobble” has originated from South India, specially, the state of
Tamilnadu. The exact reason of the origin is still unknown; however, few
inferences can be drawn after interacting with over 1000 people.
1.
Originated
from Classical Dances
There are
total of 8 classical dances in India. The striking similarity in Bharatnatyam,
Kathakali,Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi and Odissi is , they all have neck (side to
side) movements in the dance. If you look at their origin, geographically, they
also are from south or south eastern part of India, whereas the other dances
like Kathak, Manipuri, Sattriya, which are from North and North east India
don’t have neck movements.
Some of
these dances which are in the south-south eastern group said to have originated
2000 years back. Apart from Mohiniattam, all the other dances can be performed
by males also. Neck movement is
considered very important during the performance and is considered attractive.
Now here
is the catch, if you ever tell a non classical dancer to perform the “attami” (as
the neck movement called in Bharatnatyam),you will get the “head wobble”.
Hence, inferring from the same point, when in south one communicates, you would
see this head gesture.
2.
Cultural
difference
The Indian
head wobble is only seen in few states on India. It is from South east to deep South to South west,starting from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and some parts of Maharashtra. You might
also find it in some parts of Sri Lanka( other country), but not in Andaman and
Nicobar( Indian territories ). Another interesting thing to notice was, the level
of head movement varied based on religion. Compared to Catholics, it was more
in Muslims, compared to Muslims it was more in Hindus. Like I mentioned, it is only
to be seen in some parts of Maharashtra, which is south western state of India,
the more north you head, it diminishes.
3.
No
strict movements
Coming
back to Tamilnadu, one would not find very strict movements in gestures,
postures also in the way of talking and behavior. We would more find molded or
soft version in gestures, even in the way of talking. There would be an extra
stretch at the end of any statement while talking, mostly in the form of a
request. Therefore, a strict up & down head nod is nowhere to be found and
so is the “No” head movement, in sub urban or village areas.
One of the
old persons I was chatting with, told me that a straight yes or no was
considered rude during his childhood, the authenticity of the statement cannot
be traced, but if you apply it into the culture, this makes sense, why do we
have the head wobble.
4.
Effect
of Globalization and westernization
After
studying the head wobble closely, it was also seen that people in rural area
wobble their head more and frequently compared to people in suburban area. And
if you pay attention to the Local state channels, their shows, discussions etc
, you would also find seldom head wobbles there, signifying that globalization
has its role to play even there.
After
interacting with youth to senior citizens who hail from southern part of India,
one thing was common, if they had done their education outside their states, there
was no head wobble and if they stayed in their own state till their graduation,
you can see head wobble. Also, people, who have been working in other states
and are actively communicating in other languages tend to show less head
wobbles than those people who speak only their language or English ( only
professionally).
So, these
were my derivations of how the Indian head wobble has started, the exact reason
remains a mystery though.
P.S- I
wanted to contact three royal families of south India, to know if that happened
because of any kings or the specific culture during their dynasties, but I was
not allowed to meet any of them.
