Iniya ulavaaga innaadha kooral kani iruppak kaai kavarndhatru. This is couplet 100 of the Thirukkural, the classical Tamil book of ethics, the last in its chapter on pleasant words. In G.U. Pope’s translation: “When pleasant words are easy, bitter words to use, / Is, leaving sweet ripe fruit, the sour unripe to choose.”
In December 2022 the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to strictly implement an order to include 108 chapters of the Thirukkural in the school curriculum.
Aisi baani boliye, man ka aapa khoi. Apna tan seetal karai, auran kaun sukh hoi. Speak words that free the mind of pride. They cool one’s own body and give comfort to others.
The doha is by the poet-saint Kabir. It appears in “Sakhi,” the first chapter of Sparsh, the NCERT Hindi textbook for Class 10. A popular version ends auran ko sheetal kare, aapahu sheetal hoye: such words cool others, and they cool the speaker too.
Dekha jayega. It will be seen. The Rekhta dictionary defines it as “will be dealt with later,” said when “right now we don’t care.” Its Hindi entry adds that people say it to put off someone who insists too much.
Ho jayega. It will get done. HP India built an advertising campaign for small businesses around the phrase. The trade site BestMediaInfo called it “that typical Indian expression.” HP India’s chief marketing officer, Prashant Jain, described the campaign as “a celebration of the dependability of the Indian small business owner.”
In India a side-to-side movement of the head often answers a question. Wikipedia’s article on the head bobble says that “most frequently it means yes, or is used to indicate understanding.” It can also take the place of a thank-you.
The meaning depends on context. “An unenthusiastic head bobble can be a polite way of declining something without saying no directly.”
In 2008 the British magazine Information Age asked why Indian outsourcing staff seemed to agree so readily. Girish Vadya, head of the leadership training institute at Infosys, was quoted: “The way an Indian will say no is to say Yes, but…”
The article added: “They find it very difficult to say no directly.” It called this a deeply engrained part of the culture. Some Indian providers had begun to train their staff to be more assertive.
Haan mein haan milana, to match one’s yes to another’s yes, means to agree with whatever someone says. The Rekhta dictionary defines it as agreeing without understanding and accepting another’s view without question.
Satyam bruyat priyam bruyat, na bruyat satyam apriyam. Priyam cha nanritam bruyat, esha dharmah sanatanah. Speak the truth. Speak what is pleasant. Do not speak an unpleasant truth. Do not speak a pleasant untruth. This is the eternal law.
The verse is from the Manusmriti, the ancient law book, chapter 4, verse 138.
In 2006, a study by Peter Schumacher and Eric Olsson of the Value Leadership Group looked at European IT firms that outsource work to India. Every company named the tendency of Indian staff to over-commit as a significant cultural issue.
“We saw several examples of missed deadlines and project failures that the companies attributed to this trait,” the authors said.
In one of the Akbar and Birbal tales, Emperor Akbar’s pet parrot has died. No courtier dares to tell him, because he has ordered that anyone who brings news of the parrot’s death will be hanged. Birbal goes to the emperor and says: “Jahanpanah, your parrot is neither eating anything, nor drinking anything.”
When Akbar asks whether the parrot is dead, Birbal replies: “I did not say it. You said it.”