The Indian Head Wobble

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.