What's with the Adjectives?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that most of our Indian on-stage speeches are just plain stuffy?

Why doesn't anyone ever get to the point? Longer is definitely not the way to go, and yet, it seems to be the sole aim of the speaker to shush the audience to dreamland for at least half an hour.

And don't even get me started on the Adjectives!!!!

Why in the world does a mayor have to be "Worshipful"??!! We aren't in England for God's sake! And "Beloved"? "Radiant"? Sheesh. Such grandiloquence puts even the great bards to shame. The irony is, not even a single bit of any of this actually comes from the heart. Every word that is uttered is meant to butter up the "Dignitaries". Gone are the times when humility was considered to be a virtue and not a weakness.

And while we are at it, let us not forget "Very". The ubiquitous "Very" has seeped through, into every speaker's "very" life blood. Isn't it enough for a person to be sincere? What is the need to be "very" sincere? Or worse yet, "very very" sincere?
I am "very" certain that if the unnecessary (i mean almost all) adjectives and adverbs are removed from a speech, then THAT would be a tolerable speech!

Yes. We Indians love to talk. To speak in front of an audience. To wield our power over them. To watch while they shrivel up under our verbal onslaught. To watch their eyes tear up under the effect of the dreaded yawn.

And yet we are benevolent Gods in our own right. Our claim to divinity lies in our power to bestow one of the greatest joys humankind has ever known. The bliss of clapping a stuffy speaker off the stage falls short only of the bliss of water down a parched throat and the bliss of scratching an itch.

Comments

  1. Madhukar ReddyMarch 5, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    it was good. :)
    did you get this feeling after annual day ah or sports day?

    you ll definitely become a good author :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. VineeApril 6, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    both days :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Khoty MathurNovember 10, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    Indians are too polite to boo someone off the stage. Next time I'm stoicly listening to some flowery speech I know I'll remember your post :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. VineeJuly 16, 2012 at 10:47 PM

    Looks like I haven't set up e-mail notifications for comments! Rather late, but thanks for leaving a comment KayEm :) Hope you never have to listen to speeches that remind you of my post!

    ReplyDelete

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