“When the heart is full, words are few.”
We hear this statement quite often. It contradicts the common notion that a good communicator needs to be talkative and must possess a good vocabulary.
The moment I think of effective communication, an incident pops up always to my mind.
My wife and I were travelling from the city of Mumbai to the tourist destination Goa by tourist bus. It was an overnight journey. The bus started moving at around 8 PM, and the passengers began reclining in a mood to sleep. The lights inside the bus were still on. We saw two cute and inquisitive little eyes peeping over our front seat. It was followed by a sweet smile and giggling voice telling us “Ta-ta-bye-bye”. A two-year-old sweet little baby girl was waving her hand at us. She kept on giggling and smiling, repeating the words, “Ta-ta-bye-bye.” I couldn’t resist inviting her to me. She was so cute. I raised my hands towards her in a gesture of affection.
Sparing no time, in a swift action, she was on my lap, giggling, smiling and repeating “Ta-ta-bye-bye”. She entertained us for a while and was preparing to take her next leap. She raised her little head above the seat and said, “Ta-ta-bye-bye” to the passenger sitting behind us. She kept on repeating, “Ta-ta-bye-bye” until she got an invitation from him. We had to pass on the baby to him reluctantly.
By the time it was midnight, the sweet little delight had made friends with almost all the passengers inside the bus. The passengers were awake, watching her and enjoying her company. All were chanting, “Ta-ta-bye-bye”, to get her attention. Her mother was too tired and was one among the few passengers who chose to sleep.
“Ta-ta-bye-bye” was the only word she knew. We all had to restrict our communication to this phrase to get her attention. The spell of her positivity and cheer made us all stay awake until 2 o’clock in the morning. Even months after this incident, the word “Ta-ta-bye-bye” lingered and raised mixed emotions of affection, love and cheer in our minds.
Wasn’t that the proper, effective communication? She rightly conveyed the happiness and an air of cheerfulness to the entire crowd inside the bus using just a single phrase she knew. Even if you had the best entertainers in the world performing for you, you would definitely get bored after a couple of hours. But this little girl kept us awake until 2 AM, the entire bus chanting, “Ta-ta-bye-bye”, which was simply amazing.
Communication is all about transferring happiness, peace and cheer. It’s simply spreading an air of positivity to the world around us. To be an effective communicator, one doesn’t need to be an orator or a language expert who can spell and use a thousand words.
