Talking is one of our chief means of communication. However only 70000 years ago did humans start talking. We can easily communicate with 70 dB but modern people are attracted to loud sounds. They enjoy going to movie theatres equipped with the best and latest speakers to enjoy the sound effects, install home theatres with speakers in a dedicated room, go to pubs and music concerts to immerse themselves in sounds and sound effects. They enjoy vibing as such. This is a form of recreation for them. Having worked in front of a computer for a week finding something that drowns their senses to help relax and rewind is quite understandable. Music and movies have a pattern. The sounds that are repeated are in tune and so they help align ones senses. They give pleasure to the listener and the musician. Instrumental music is easier to get used to and fall in love with. If it is a person who sings or talks it takes a few more features to be pleasant and enjoyable for a majority of people. A child loves its mother’s voice for within the womb. It doesn’t matter if her voice has a good pitch, resonance or tone. The same child shall take a few years to select its favourite musician. Same goes for the ones we love. We can listen to their voice for hours and still long for more conversation with our loved ones and at the same time the same person’s voice might not even be the last choice to be selected for an one hour talk show on the radio. Such special conditions aside, when we are conversing, with a fellow human being if we incorporated a few modifications to our natural crude tone and delivery of the words thats when we are most listened to in any situation. People lend an ear to you when you are a skilled speaker who uses your voice for what interests them in a polished manner. Thats why there are job interviews.
There are some people who have naturally loud voices.Even these people tend to keep their voices at a neutral tone during a normal conversation at least at work spaces and gatherings after all that is the mark of being civilised, isn’t it? Then there are some people, who are so self absorbed that they do not realise that their loudness is quite unnecessary at this set up and that they are causing a disturbance. And finally is a special category who know that they are too loud and they still continue to keep at it in restricted areas also just to spite the people around.
For some reason the number of people belonging to this special category is alarmingly rising. We see people talking too loud in libraries, museums, public spaces, inside meeting halls, lecture rooms and sometimes unfortunately at our desk when we are working.
From my childhood I have had reading desks. I must have had right from when I started sitting on a chair or I have no clue when children start sitting on chairs which is the most possible explanation as I am very bad with remembering child growth milestones. However I do have a picture of me sitting in my kinder garden uniform all dressed up for school with a book in hand in a little arm chair. I have a variety of desks in varying heights which were changed over the years as I grew. My mom had a separate reading corner and when she did her Doctoral research she had an entire room to herself which I was much envious of.I got my own study room when I was doing my high school and had it till I completed schooling.Once I entered college my whole home was overflowing with my books and study notes posters and even my bed was shared by two unidentified male and female skulls on one side and an assortment of reference books on the other. When I did my post graduation I made the mistake of falling in love with a puppy and now I don’t own anything. You might think I am exaggerating but I can show you pictures of Kulfi pulling my textbook when I was getting ready, revising for my final exams and of Empress eating my lipsticks and pulling down my plants and my mom donating all my bedclothes and pillows to them so I have nothing today.I own nothing today. Looking back at those wonderful times when I was the Princess of the house, my Grandparents house and my uncle’s houses wherever I went each family member had their own book shelves and study tables. We no-one ever touched or as much as left our pens or papers on anyone else’s tables. We have even shared beds and clothes on some rare occasions but never the tables. There was one room, my Grandpa’s which we were never allowed to enter except with him or with our grandma by our side. His was the largest table in the house. I have only seen him sit from one side from the door, never from the front because his table was filled with books too high that even when I stood I couldn’t see him from the front.
Any visit to any family house or even when we visited Chennai along with our parents during summer holidays we were given ample of books to keep ourselves occupied. Our elders had the habit of reading newspapers like clockwork. So only the news channel would run at home and all the remaining time at home for us, was filled with sweet quietness.
Our family gatherings are huge. All of them talk at the same time, I still haven’t grasped their technique but trust me they all talk at the same time. But if you are not involved in the conversation you are excused to find your sweet spot and curl up with a book. If anyone notices you at such occasions with a textbook the whole gathering goes quiet. Yes I am privileged and I am proud of having had such a beautiful past. This has however made my ears pretty sensitive. When I shifted to Chennai I literally couldn’t handle the noise around me and used my iPods mainly to have a constant supply of white noise to help me concentrate. I used to have my iPod on and read bio-chemistry. One of my professors used to mock me for it but she loved me when I got to her class. Ah! history is sweet when you have had a beautiful past.
Sometimes when I am working some people gather around and talk. If it is worth my time I join in the conversation closing my laptop. If its small talk and gossip I take my laptop and leave and there are special circumstances where they purposely talk so loud just because you are working and you can only hope it ends soon. I have had to sit through so many such occasions and always wondered how worthless their conversations are. Most of them were gossip and the rest were complaints and conversations on personal lives and appearances of movie stars. I do not engage in any of these on principle so I have always had to sit and wonder how some people have so much time to spare and what a way to waste language and create noise pollution.
There is a set of people with special needs who purposely watch movies and reels or listen to music at the loudest volume and keep changing the reels too creating so much disturbance that even my iwatch keeps tapping on my wrist saying its too loud. These colleagues of mine do this especially when I am reading something or writing something. If nothing else they grab someone to shout at and shout. Having had the privilege of a quiet environment to grow in, surviving in such a noisy environment sometimes leaves me with a headache that needs medication. No need to explain how my productivity also reduces in such a situation. I haven’t been to a single library in the last decade where people stay quiet and read. Even hospital lobbies are loud with television these days.
With these passing years are human beings growing as a species towards a better future or marching backwards losing centuries worth of evolution in the name of Neo culture and jealousy?
Earliest human settlements are approximately 3.6 million years old. The discovery of fire is proven to be around 2 million years ago. Earliest settlements where people started civilisations and thrived were all near fresh water rivers. All archeological evidence that is available till date points to how these early civilisations had burial grounds to dispose off their dead. They consumed the water and grew their food crops in it. No civilisation has any record of ever contaminating its river water source with dead bodies. Until after the Indus Valley Civilisation got exposed to Aryans. After the introduction of Aryan people in history is when the Indus Valley People start cremating their dead by river banks and disperse cremated ashes onto fresh and sea water bodies contaminating them.
With development and evolution modern day Indians show a piece of camphor to dead bodies and leave them floating on the rich waters of Ganges / Yamuna to decompose and eventually destroy and pollute the river and sea in the process. How from being so civilised with separate toilets, bath tubs and scrolls we evolved into corpse floating fresh water individuals eludes me. With the advent of electric crematoriums the future of the rivers of India seems a little safe, however one cannot safely bet on any development where people are living a fulfilled life by just postponing other’s achievements rather than even talking about achieving anything of their own.
- Dr Thenaruvi Marimuthu☠️
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