Comments on: Why Don’t Indians Leave Voicemails?

By: Shala Notis

Shala Notis — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:26:44 +0000

Do you accept guest posts? I just like the style how you wrote Why Don’t Indians Leave Voicemails?, I’m in this topic for ages and I would adore to write 2 or 3 articles or reviews right here if you agree with me.

By: Ravikiran Rao

Ravikiran Rao — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:20:38 +0000

I guess I agree..

By: VK

VK — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:01:47 +0000

Voice mail is almost dead everywhere: http://www.slate.com/id/2217998/

By: Deepak

Deepak — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:59:41 +0000

my view – its down to our own lack of trust and cultural instinct to believe in ‘active’ chase ups. The feeling that our messages will not receive attention and that we ‘need’ to grab attention now above all else that might be going on with the other person. This is also why we jump queues (if we form them to begin with), also the reason why we bribe our ways through, use favours. We innately do not trust the other person to respond unless we chase them up. This I also suspect comes from generations of dealing with governement and public institutions.

By: avataram

avataram — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:02:29 +0000

Many indians (north indians and mallus) confuse message and massage. When the machine says – leave a message, they start thinking of other things and drop the phone. All you need to do is to go to youtube India, and find that the most watched video is “mallu aunty – oil message!”

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:22:38 +0000

I realize that we don’t leave messages because we have not developed a culture of leaving messages.

Ada ada.. what observation!

By: Arnold D'Souza

Arnold D'Souza — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:11:47 +0000

Nice! I was actually a bit skeptical of your analysis when I started reading this. Even though I never leave messages myself. (This is actually strange. I never leave voice messages when I’m in India. But if I’m outside the country, I always leave a message when I get the machine!)

However, I think your points are all spot on! Nice post.

By: goober

goober — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:16:40 +0000

On a humorous note, someone from an earlier generation refused to be persuaded to have a answering machine at home with the following reasoning – ” caller will know that nobody is at home and attempt burglary”

By: Ravikiran Rao

Ravikiran Rao — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:58:44 +0000

Ah yes.. I don’t think it makes sense to adopt the culture of voice messages now that we have missed calls, caller id and SMS. I am just amused that people send me an SMS even when I redirect them to voicemail, spending on both a call and an SMS. Worse still, they don’t leave a message or an SMS, leaving me wondering if I missed something important. Or they don’t leave a message, don’t wait for me to call back and call me again and again neglecting my convenience.

By: VK

VK — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:53:46 +0000

Isn’t one SMS cheaper than one call in general? Then there are loads of plans with plenty of free SMSes. Anyway, my preference is for the case when there is information that, for some reason, just has to be conveyed (a one way communication that doesn’t require a return call). In general, I am quite satisfied with people leaving me missed calls. All the foreigners who have been taught by me in the fine art of leaving missed calls are also quite satisfied with their reduced bills.