The Americans and for that matter a lot of other folks have a habit of tilting their head a few degrees if they see you. It is their way of acknowledging your presence. Like saying, 'hey bro I see you' and 'I see that you are within my vision.' You walk down the road and a guy you have never seen before, who in all possibilities you will never see again, tilts his head and continues walking. We being we, have this irresistible urge to stop and ask about his wife, kids and the neighbor’s dog. But no, that is not allowed. The thing to do is the "I see you too bro" tilt.
Imagine you do the tilt thingy in a little south Indian town like, say,Vanamamadurai. The person you 'tilted' at will apply his brakes like Schumacher on a sharp curve. The conversation will begin with "Thambi Yaaru?" And by the time he is finished with you, he'll know more about you than your grandmother and elder sister put together. I am not here to weigh the pros and cons of the matter at hand, just to dissect it like a frog in a high school lab. And, as is the case of the frog, I hope to make a horrible mess of it before I am through.
Another thing one notices is, the whole bro thing happens only when there is eye contact. You don’t find people just tilting at all and sundry (They will get a mighty crick in the neck if they do that). They never make eye contact, but if you look at them, they immediately look at you, so they can do the 'bro' thing. Probably the 'eyes in the back' syndrome where people always know if you look at them.
So the AM being AM, keeps looking at people until they are forced to acknowledge his presence. Not staring, there is never a necessity for that, just looking in the general direction will do. He's been doing it for the past four days (that’s how long has been in this country) and he's been getting the same result. No "Thambi Yaru" or even a "Yo Bro", just a tilt.
Its kind of different to be acknowledged but not asked questions thereafter. The subcontinentites that have been here for a long time probably have got used to it and follow the same principles, the ones that haven’t been here for long are probably trying to come to terms with it. But whatever the case, this gives me a valid reason to write 435 words on my blog.
