Crash course on communication

The other day I witnessed a conversation Rahul had with his boss. He realized there is not way to make it to work that night, so he called up the boss. The most of the talk was done in Hindi, yet I got the general overtone of it. With very serious and regretful voice, Rahul said it was 45C yesterday (true) and he got heat stroke and he is not well - taking medicines and all... Most probably, he said, I'll make it to work, but if I don’t u know what happened types...The last phrase he repeated a couple of times..... Once he hanged up the phone we laughed hard, as it was so obvious for everyone (incl. the boss) he was not coming to office that night....

For me, this is the ultimate example of the high context communication. In fact, there are two conversations going on – the one you hear, the explicit one and the one that is implied – and the latter obviously more relevant when it comes to meaning. Essentially, people do not mean what they say then. But the former is as important when the social relations are concerned. Smooth talk is an important element of face saving. You do not say, “I do not come to work because I have got something more exciting to do than you can offer to me“. You say, “Oh, see I ‘d love to come so much I am actually willing to do it despite I am so unwell”… Kind of a thing. Works fine once you know the system…I wanna learn…..