Why do we talk?

I was riding towards parihar chowk in aundh area of pune when another bike approaching from opposite direction shouted ‘aage mama hai’ (there is a traffic cop ahead). I pressed my foot on the break and turned to take some other route. Its not that I don’t have proper papers for my bike but intention was just to escape the hustle and in India you never know, you might just end up paying few bugs instead of all documents.

But that is not the point. It didn’t strike me at that time but later, why did he tell me about the cop? I am sure it was not on humanitarian ground or because he had some personal issue with the cop or he wanted me to save some money. The guy didn’t even see my face which was buried inside helmet. Then why?

More thinking made me realized that there are more such incidents. While washing hands in a washroom of a multiplex, guy standing next to me says ‘Irrfan khan ka kaam achcha hai’ I smiled and left the washroom. Why did he do that? He knew I was also watching the same movie, then why?  Every day and every time we meet people who say some or the other thing which more or less is irrelevant and which is not required to be told or we already know it. E.g. ‘chai thandi ho gayi hai’ ‘its nice weather today’ ‘tomorrow is a holiday’ ‘moon is so bright today’ and so on.

Why millions of years ago some cave man decided to draw a picture on a cave wall which showed three man hunting a sheep? He is doing that everyday isn’t it? Each day he goes out in a group of fellow cavemen to hunt, running, catching, getting hurt, getting killed, killing sheep, bringing it back, eating and all those thing, he and all others like him are doing it anyway. So why he goes and draws it on a wall and invents a form of art? To impress others? To remember how to kill a sheep? To pass it to his kids? No, he does it because its his inner need. Its in our genes. A need to talk, to express, to communicate. That’s what our nature is.

We have a basic need to express ourselves in any form, not necessary it has to be in an art form. And that’s what is reason behind inventions of so many mediums. From a drawing on cave wall to a movie playing in 3D, all inventions are only because of this need. So when someone says you talk too much, take it as a compliment and in return ask him why does he talk at all? I am sure he would be surprised.