The never-enigmatic Presh Talwalker analyzes the strategic bobbling occasionally effected by the heads of Indians.

I have personally witnessed this maneuver in two contexts which fall outside of the categories Presh identifies in his post.

  1. Indian students asking me a question and getting an answer.  The ensuing head-bobble has always suggested to me something like “of course.  obvious. so obvious in fact that the thundering stroke of clarity is making my head roll around.”  I have also noticed that on these occasions the bobble is contagious.  The Indian student sitting next to the questioner bobbles sympathetically.
  2. Indian classical music.  The tabla player, say, will bobble just after a rapid-fire phrase. There might even be a sound emitted.  It’s something like “Chella.”  The whole display says something like “Behold, the rhythm is so frenetic that it is rebounding back through my arms and neck and dissapating through the top of my head. Chella.”
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