Exploring the intriguing linguistic kaleidoscope of bus travel

Humans are fascinating creatures who speak a distinct language that is intelligible and interconnects people from different geographies, ethnicities, professions, cultures and linguistic societies. Language not only facilitates the life of human beings to socialize in the world but also helps them to hold a great stature as thinking beings who have the potential to express their thoughts in clear and unambiguous words. After emotions, language holds the highest position that connects one human being to a thousand other human beings and helps them to feel one with them, to exchange their ideas and feelings with them and to discuss and debate on different social and political issues.
The human frame shares a similitude of emotions but the linguistic build-up of a human being is a different one. It is the outcome of various spheres and stages of life. Language is culturally, socially and geographically born. When more than two linguistically different people gather together at one place and strike up a conversation, it turns out to be a great language trip for all of them where they learn one another’s linguistic cultures and behaviours and for language students, linguistic trips are the best trips ever had and availed. Other tourists may be dazzled by the beauty of different infrastructures but linguists are fascinated by the structures of language and they keenly observe and analyze its working. Words allure and impress them. A space is generated in a bus which is boarded by linguistically different people who originate from different linguistically and culturally backgrounds. They exchange their differences while indulging in gossip on the bus. The experience of observing these people is wonderful. One is introduced and familiarized with different new words, phrases, proverbs and sentences spoken in different dialects. It is a good place to begin one’s sociolinguistic study projects.
I had a long bus travel a few days ago. I got on the bus approximately after ten long years. Due to its consumption of a lot of time, I abandoned boarding a bus for my travels but a few days ago I had to have a bus trip because my co-travellers insisted. Perhaps they were hard up in their pockets and I had to yield to their insistence. The moment I stepped on the bus, I felt like I entered a small global linguistic society where different languages and dialects were face to face. People hold longer gossips during bus travel knowing the slow movement of the vehicle. I sat on my seat near an old lady and started looking here and there to see the faces of gossipers. This multilingualism has fascinated me. I did not talk except to inform the TC about my drop destination. The bus boarders hailed from different cultures, their languages banged with one another and their cultures clashed the screams of which I still hear. As many dialects were discernible to one’s ear as there were speakers. Everyone’s dialect was completely different from others. The fascination of hearing them was limitless. The bus was packed. I felt stifled so I pushed up the window glass but after a few nanoseconds, a person from another seat shouted at me to pull down the glass giving the reason that cold wind passes through the window. I keenly noticed the tone of his speaking. It was rude and disturbing but I took it as a sample for my sociolinguistic analysis. I observed the multiculturalism keenly.
The linguistic and cultural norms of travellers made the journey interesting. They held their endless gossip about so many miscellaneous things from war to peace, from America to Iran and from Russia to Ukraine. A great commentary was exchanged with passengers about the ongoing Palestine-Israel war. One traveller said in a cockney dialect that “the world is a trash bin” and “the world is not a livable place because people are killed here like cattle”. I later thought the guy might have pursued his studies in London as his dialect was perfectly Londoner. I recorded the difference in tone and articulation of their dialect in the digital notebook. I always do it. Even sometimes a thought strikes me in the middle of the night; I open my notebook and jot it down with one eye completely closed. But I experienced alienation throughout the journey because I could participate in their gossip and made no commentary on the issues they were speaking about. Almost everyone joined everyone else except me. The reason for unwillingness to speak was the fear of categorization. When I usually speak on such issues, people categorize me as pro-war or anti-war. I hate categorizations but people are quick to label me either their friend or their enemy. Categorization blurs the genuine perspectives and confines one’s thought leaning to one side of the truth only. To be genuine is to be beyond any categorizations. I wanted to tell them that war talks are not about pro or anti but about destruction and damage caused by wars but I resisted. Besides, I felt alone because my dress separated me from other passengers. It gave me the feeling of untowardness. Post-trip deliberations unfolded to me that I was not considered a Kashmiri because I wore a new dress – a sweatshirt, blue jeans, leather shoes and black jacket, eyeglasses and a cap. They thought I was from abroad. I could realize their foreign gazes hurled towards me. But I was not irritated at all because it was not happening the first time with me. I had various similar experiences before.
A long bus journey has become a language trip for me. I observed almost ten passengers interacting with the TC. In Kashmiri and Urdu languages they communicated in ten different dialects and idiolects. Few spoke full of formality while others spoke roughly, rudely, hoarsely and casually. A lady so politely requested the TC, “Let me off please.” It was a wonderful experience to travel on the bus. I thought after the trip that I missed a lot by not always travelling on the bus. Bus is a global linguistic village where different languages are spoken and heard. I was reminded of my university days. While teaching sociolinguistics, our language professor communicated in various different dialects of people. He imitated them. He learnt their dialect because he needed it for his profession of being a language professor. He made us understand how society affects language. He spoke in the imitation of TC, bus drivers, street peddlers and others.
You may ask why I have written about my bus travel as it appears your daily routine to travel in buses and other transport conveniences. I want to tell you that learning does not need a specific space where knowledge exchange takes place. Knowledge is now out of the specificity and particularity. It is now exchanged at every platform of life. Bus travel teaches us a lot about the different cultures of people. Their linguistic behaviours, their way of perceiving things, their ideas and thoughts about the contemporary issues of the world, their dress codes, their social and cultural upbringing, etc..

The writer can be reached at [email protected]

Fida Hussain Bhat