On May 22, 2010, Air India Express Flight 812 crashed while landing at Mangalore. The cockpit recorder had “co-pilot Captain HS Ahluwalia” “telling Captain Glusica thrice to go around,” the Deccan Herald reported.
The investigation noted: “Although company SOP empowered the first officer to assume control and discontinue the approach, he did not do so.”
R.K. Laxman drew the cartoon You Said It for The Times of India. Its best-known figure is the Common Man. “The Common Man generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic,” Wikipedia notes.
In the film 3 Idiots (2009), Farhan studies engineering. He “is passionate about wildlife photography but chose to join in order to appease his father,” in the words of Wikipedia’s plot summary.
Later he receives an apprenticeship offer from his favorite photographer, Andre Istvan, and “earns his father’s blessings.”
In the Ayodhya Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, Queen Kaikeyi wants her son Bharata to be crowned instead of Rama. She goes to the krodhagara, the chamber of anger. The doorkeeper tells King Dasharatha: “Oh, king! The queen ran to her chamber of wrath with much anger.”
“King Dasaratha, after seeing Kaikeyi lying down on floor in the chamber of wrath, became tormented with grief.”
Maunam sammati lakshanam. Silence is a sign of consent. Writing in The Telegraph in 2023, Upala Sen quoted the saying: “There is that saying in Sanskrit, maunam sammati lakshanam. Meaning, silence conveys consent/support.”
She then argued that in many situations the saying does not hold.
In a tale of Tenali Rama, King Krishnadevaraya banishes Tenali after a false accusation. Tenali comes back to court with a pot over his head.
He explains, in a retelling on MomJunction: “as a citizen of Vijayanagara, it is my duty to follow your orders.” And: “I took the help of this pot to hide my face from you, and at the same time, fulfill my royal duties.”
In one of the Akbar and Birbal tales, a poor Brahmin stands all night in a freezing pond to win a reward from the emperor. Akbar refuses to pay. A light in the palace, a mile away, kept the man warm, he says.
Birbal does not argue. He sends word that he will come to court once his khichdi is cooked. Days pass. When Akbar goes to see him, the fire is far away from the pot. Akbar sees his mistake and pays the Brahmin.
Dabi zubaan se: with a pressed-down tongue. The Rekhta dictionary defines it as speaking in a low voice, in a muffled voice, timidly.
Munh pe aur, peeth peeche aur: one thing to the face, another behind the back. Rekhta glosses it as a friend outwardly and an enemy inwardly. Peeth peeche badshah ko bhi bura kehte hain: behind his back, people speak ill even of the emperor.
Bichauliya: the one in the middle. Rekhta gives mediator, arbitrator, go-between and middleman. Its Hindi entry adds the person who arranges a marriage or an engagement.
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 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.”