0 If you are happy “beat the drum”.

Sometime back, I enjoyed a corporate lunch in a Rajdhani restaurant. This is a chain of restaurant in the country famous for serving strictly vegetarian food. It rarely happens that I dine outside in vegetarian mode. To me, dinning is a celebration. Moreover, I have been grown up in an environment where non vegetarian food is considered as a guest who is not-so-welcomed frequently. However when it comes, it is not less than a guest whose arrival is celebrated. Yes, dining outside is a celebration: a kind of expression of a happy mood. Though, in reality, this corporate lunch was a gesture to say goodbye to one of our colleagues.

Amidst speculation of a depressed enthusiasm of a leafy menu’ in my plate, while we were waiting to be served, first time in my life, I saw a unique way of appreciating the good services provided by the restaurant. Among the folks who already finished their lunch there were few who liked the food very much. A drum was kept outside the restaurant entrance. A satisfied customer was supposed to beat the drum as a token of appreciation. I observed, upon hearing the drum beat, the waiters and chefs used to acknowledge by reciting “au jao” together in unison which means “please come again” in Rajasthani/Gujrati.

The act of drum beating was appearing pure, auspicious and exciting. For the staffs of this restaurant “Au Jao” must be a regular and boring phrase to recite at every drum beat. However, it was an exclusive experience for the customers who had not finished their meal and were yet to decide the quality of service. Those who were first timer to this restaurant (like me) were ought to get confused with the frequent occurrence of this event and were bound to seek explanation for the same. Curiosity was carrying forward and even if one did not like the food he/she was beating the drum, just for the sake of  fun. Others present in the restaurant could not differentiate between someone who was satisfied and beating the drum and others who were doing it for fun. All drum beating was religiously taken as an appreciation for the service.

There cannot be a better way of marketing. There is a drum beat at regular interval of time and a group of employees reciting “Aau Jao” …please come again… in unison. Now let us consider the alternate marketing mechanism. Let us consider that if a satisfied customer starts giving well prepared lecture on the quality of service being provided to them. Even the lecture of the best possible speaker of this world cannot create the same impact as the drum beating. Similarly, if the employees start praising the customer (which happens most of the time) even for hours, they cannot replace the effect of “Aau Jao”.

It has been said before, and I am repeating the same here also. I am a votary of the opinion that the impact of the communication is not (solely) dependent on the words or languages. They are merely a tool for communication. Your body language, the way you connect with your audience, your pauses and breaks, modulation of your voice etc speak louder than your words.

It is all about expression. Though, the words and languages are the important tools but they are not the ONLY tool. Sometime it happens that we don’t have the right words to express ourselves. It may happen due to lack of language or it can happen that there are no words available in this word which can truly represents your feeling. A bowler shouts at umpire when his ball hit the pad of the batsman like an uncivilized person, a football player starts rolling on the ground after shooting a goal like a mad person. Human emotions are amazing and crazy acts to demonstrate them are justified and well accepted in society.

There cannot be a better example than the the famous incidence of Archimedes. I kept thinking why the hell so glorified person would run naked on the road. Actually when he discovered the theory while he was taking bath in a tub, he shouted “eureka, eureka…”. Eureka was not representing his instantaneous feeling. There was no word available which could match his state of mind. Therefore he ran naked towards the palace.