Thursday, November 15, 2012

Voices.

This is what I look like:


This is what you would assume I looked like if you never saw me and only heard my voice:

This is 3-year-old me. And yes, I have maintained my hairstyle since then.

Believe me, it's true. Whenever I answer the phone at home, people always assume I'm a little girl and ask me in their slow "I'm-the-adult-here" way of speaking to hand over the phone to either my "MUMMY" or "GRANDMUMMY". No one believes by just hearing my voice that I'm an adult myself (or very close to being one anyway). 

It makes me wonder, how different can people actually look from the visions you have in your mind whenever you hear their voice? 

This usually happens to me whenever I listen to the radio. I keep on trying to imagine what the radio jockey looks like just by their voice, and I almost always end up wrong. I regularly have to face sore disappointment if I ever come across an RJ's photo, because seriously, they look absolutely NOTHING like their voices make them seem.

An example of what happened to me:


I heard an RJ's voice on the radio, and found it immensely attractive. The guy sounded hot, funny, and cute. But when I googled him, I was disappointed. He wasn't ugly at all, but he was just... average. It's funny how your perceptions of someone become nearly other-worldy when you get attracted to something of theirs. I got attracted to his voice, and forgot that he's a completely normal person, like you and I. An RJ's job requires them to be heard but not seen, and since you need to apply your own imagination to visualize something your hear, it's almost never the same.

This hasn't just happened with me. When I used to live in Dubai, I had Russian neighbors. Whenever I was bored, I would just walk across to their villa and hang out with them. They were always very welcoming, and were so comfortable with me around that they didn't mind me tagging along with them as they went about doing their chores. One of the members in that Russian household, a lady in her late twenties, was ironing her clothes and telling me about her work. It involved talking to a lot of clients via phone call. She told me that one of the clients of the company she worked in had a very lovely voice. He sounded so charming, so warm, so lively, so sexy that she couldn't help but start obsessing over how he must look like. Only using his voice to work on, she constructed an image of him as a good-looking young gentleman who probably wore his suit everywhere and had a crush-worthy face and a powerful presence. When she heard that he would be visiting her office building soon, she was naturally extremely excited. 

Alas, she said, when he entered the office, her entire vision of him collapsed. He was a short, portly man with a large moustache and a beer gut, and looked like he was somewhere around his 50s. He didn't even have a powerful aura! My neighbor told me that he looked somewhat like a hobo. She was understandably very disappointed.

It was like this for her, and I can totally relate.

My neighbor also confided in me that she was almost in love with his voice. I told her about my radio incident, and we agreed that we both had extremely bad luck (haha).

The above incidents make me totally terrified about finding out who really dubs the voice of Behlul (actor Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ) in Urdu for the Turkish drama Aski Memnu that has been airing in Pakistan these days (under the name of Ishq-e-Mamnoon). 

(HOPEFULLY NOT!!!!!)

I have never loved a guy speaking Urdu so much, and I fear that my vision of the dubbing artist as Behlul himself is at risk to be shattered completely. :(

This brings me to a question I wanted to ask you guys: Do you think YOU could ever fall in love with a voice? And if you ever have, then how was the experience? Were you disappointed when you discovered who owned that voice and how they looked like? Or was it like you found the perfect match to your imagination?

(If you answer in the affirmative to the last question, then I swear I'm positively GREEN with envy. Haha.)

22 comments:

Lubaina E. said...

Well we have all kinds of experiences :)
Reminds me of that ad by ufone I guess that has a pretty girl whose voice turns out to be very manly xD

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of this creep who texted me a few days ago saying that 'he fell in luv wid ma voice bcox itz very cute'
And the funny part is, I don't even remember answering any call from the moron's number and for the record, my voice is so NOT cute, or even pleasant to hear :p
And answer to your question is, no.

Lioness Without A Pride said...

OOOOOMG LOOK AT BABY YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOO CUTE! *dies of cuteness overload* <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

The same thing happens with me as well! Only, there usually is an awkward pause after they hear me, because they need to decide if I'm me or my younger sister. Which is funny. :P A simple "Hi, this is " is enough, right? If I recognize them I can go "Hiiiii, this is Shrija!" and everyone's happy!

But I think I sound like that only on the phone. In reality I don't sound all that squeaky.

PORTLY MOUSTACHED HOBO GUY IS SO HILARIOUS ^_^ :D

Hmm, I don't think I have. Been attracted to a guy's voice, I mean. I mean you always read in sappy romance novels how the guy's voice "melted her into a pool of wax", or "was as warm and silky as melted chocolate", and I just thought those were exaggerations - much like the rest of the details in such books ^_^ :P But no, I haven't really heard a guy's voice and been like "Omg dat voizse. :O"

Although the RJ thing I totally get because some of them do sound nice sometimes. I think it's the microphones that do it. I really do; be it an RJ's mic or the receiver in a phone, it makes one's voice sound.. sexy.

Well at least that's what I think. Mic's and other devices are what make one sound sexy, is what I'm trying to say. And like you mentioned, you found sexy voices only on the radio/TV, you didn't mention a real live guy whose voice you were attracted to, right?

Something to think about, interesting!

Kashaf A. said...

Here you go, http://tribune.com.pk/story/463759/ishq-e-mamnoo-the-faces-behind-the-voices/

Martin Alexander said...

Ah, here I was half-expecting you to post a link to your squeaky voice. I am disappoint....

The last job I had saw me mainly waiting tables, but I also had to answer the phone if nobody else was around (which happened surprisingly often). So quite a few times I did end up smitten by a random lady on the other end, but since most calls were for deliveries instead of pick-up orders, I would usually end up never knowing what the girl on the other hand looks like.

There was one girl in particular who has a really sultry voice on the phone. In my mind, I was expecting to be talking with a Jessica Rabbit - which is mind blowing, as you may imagine. It seemed like a safe bet, since the neighborhood I worked at is known to be Eye-Candy City. Anyway, she came in and she WAS a readhead, but she looked more like a country girl in her overalls. Still cute, so I wasn't too disappointed.

And then this other time, one of my buddies took a phone order, put the customer on hold, and then told me to pick up the other phone because the guy supposedly spoke in a robotic voice. And he did!! As soon as he hung up we just started cracking up, picturing a robot eating tacos at home, haha.

This reply is getting long....

Anyway, as far as dubs go, Japanese voice actors are always what you least expect. My favorite anime character ever is this young boy who sails the seas looking for adventure and fighting bad guys.
One day I clicked on a youtube clip showing the voice actors for the show, and the protagonist was voiced by a little old lady!
Insanity, I say!!

Ghadeer said...

That always happens to me! (Googling radio people and getting shocked).

But to answer your question, I don't think I'd fall in love with a voice. Hypothetically.

quartertoinsane said...

The ufone wala ad experience :D also, ali safinas voice... i wanted it, but then i saw ali safina and i was like "mere piyaray allah miyan, ye kaisa insaaf hai" ... but seriously that dude has an awesome voice

Dorsey Sprouls said...

Morgan Freeman's voice has never let me down, ever. My first experience was when I watched "March of the Penguins," when he was just the narrator.

Apart from that, they've also gone just as horribly wrong as you've described. Sigh...

Rafya Sweets said...

I do not mean that you're not cute now, But your 3 year old pic... OMGGG that's soo cutee!!
Nope I've NEVER fallen in love with any voice except for young Simbe :P But I don't care to know who dubbed it, Watching Simba speak is enough I guess :D

Aabi said...

YOU CUTIEEEEEEEE! Usually (in my case) i was a cute baby and then i grew up. -_- BUT YOUUU, YOU JUST GOT CUTERRRRR! <3

AND DUDEEEEE I SO GET YOUU! this happens to me with songs that i randomly listen to and never see the artist. Like the Fray!!! I was imagining this super hot guy and then i saw the artist and got really sad :/
HAHAHAHHA i loveeee the hobo drawing :D

Deviation said...

Oh God Why, Whenever I'm Listening To Radio I Always Imagine The RJ To Look Like As Their Voice. -_-" I'm Up For Some Real Disappointments Now.

Adeena said...

If a guy sounded like Alan Rickman, I would totally fall in love with him. Especially if he said 'Always,' like that. *heart melts*

Muslimah Delights said...

I also get told I sound like a child. Lol@ the reality pix haha

Just another girl. said...

omgggg you've always been such a cutieee <3 i love how you've maintained your hair style. :p
i'm super glad you've started blogging again, i love reading your posts!
and you're so right! all these RJs sound super hot esp when they're being all funny and friendly and stuff, so you google them and tadaaa. :p couldn't agree more!

Anonymous said...

yes! i have fallen inlove with someone's voice & we had a 'spiritual, erotic' voice-only
relationship. we also exchanged
poetry thru. email & we would send
each other collage letters &
mix tapes about once a month.

we had a surreally lovely time for
about one year.

Jack said...

Furree,

Caught up with pending posts. Had a hearty laugh on your crush account. So nice of you to wish him and please convey Happy Birthday from my side also. I agree that voice of a person does play tricks while trying to visualize him or her.

Take care

Rutaba Tariq said...

That made me smile, so thanks.And also it reminded me of my 'sort-of-crush' over the Radio. The illusion I created out of his laugh, humour and voice simply was hilarious. Although, the second time around, the dude turned out pretty cute ;).Which meant he was completely out of my reach xD So,that ended well.
This post also reminds me of a study I read, about people being attracted to other people cause of their odour. Turned out that people were actually attracted to people with pleasant smells and equally repellent to bad odours. And they did the research with just images!Here we have full fledges voices!

So well done.

M said...

I'm dying to know what you thought of that link posted by "ME" the voice behind characters.

and OMGGGGGGGGG that guy portraying behlul is... :O

He can compete with chirs hemsworth.

You're adorable in pictures, i totally get your trivia about being called a lil girl over phone. This may go on till you're... i dont know 23? 24? After which you may develop... those adult voice chords. Or something. Its slightly better for me now.

Furree Katt said...

@Lubaina, LOL yeah except the Ufone ad is the other way around :)

@Ennzee, HAHAHA OMG I hate creeps like that! :P

@Lioness Without A Pride, Awww thank you sooo much! ♥ And yeah I sound squeaky on the phone too. I didn't know you had a younger sister O.O
And yeah I cannot relate to books when they describe a guy's voice being sexy and sultry for real. I never thought about the phone/radio/TV theory, I think you're definitely on to something there! Thanks for your ultra long comment :* ♥

@ME, wow thank you for ignoring the entire blog post to post that comment. this post was scheduled anyway so i'd already seen that article before my post was published. and even before that, Hamza told me who voiced Behlul.

@Martin, Aww I'm sorry! One day I'll call you and we can talk, or something. Haha.
Thanks for sharing your story, it's so cool that you at least get an opportunity to see the people whom you talk to on the phone. JESSICA RABBIT, now she was one hot lady. I remember watching that movie and being told to look away whenever she came on screen, haha.
Glad at least SOMEONE was cute in your experience!
And believe me I looove long comments.
JAPANESE DUBS awww never heard of them before, thanks for informing me. An old lady voicing a young boy definitely sounds adorable hahaha. Cute!

@Ghadeer, LMAO! I totally know how you feel. Happens with all of us :(

@quartertoinsane, LOLOLOL haan that is sooo true, Ali Safina ki awaz achi hai, he looks funny though. But funny in a good way! Like Riteish Deshmukh. Ali Safina is very talented too hahaha.

@Dorsey, MORGAN FREEMAN IS A LEGEND. His voice is that of a king.

@Rafya, Haha yay, thank you :) and LOL I totally forgot how Simba's voice sounds like I haven't watched that movie since forever :|

@Aabi, Thank you! ♥ and OMG I TOTALLY KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ABOUT THE FRAY. Awaaz pyaari hai magar he looks like a complete EGG HEAD. Hahahaha.

@Daniyal, Muahahahaha! Just google your favourite RJ and be in for a nasty surprise! :P

@Adeena, If I heard Alan Rickman's voice anywhere I would only be able to visualize greasy-haired, long-nosed Snape. SO NO. Haha.

@Muslimah Delights, Awwww. Thank you! :)

@Just another girl, Yay! Thank you, that really means a lot. I missed you too ♥ I'm glad you can relate and agree :D

@Paige, That sounds very bizarre, but in a good way. Convenient too, really. No-strings-attached type! I think relationships like that are best left to the quirky souls. Exchanging poetry does sound nice, though! Thanks for your comment :)

@Jack, Thank you very much! I'm always so grateful to you for reading all my posts whenever you visit.

@Rutaba, Thank you :) I'm glad you liked it. Nice to see you on my blog! I'm happy at least someone turned out to be cute in your case :P. And haha yeah I studied that study in Psychology AS.

@M, LOL it was kind of expected really :)
And thank you, I do hope I get recognized as a grown up soon.

Anonymous said...

LOOK WHO'S THE CUTIE NOW!

SK said...

ahahaha the RJ thing, i can totally relate to! i had the biggest crush on an RJ once. his voice was incredible. but then i forgot about him. then i met him somewhere. and sadly for me, he was actually as good looking as i'd imagined him. (which is why he was married.) then i forgot about him again until your post reminded me. lol.

Furree Katt said...

@MustBeMimii, Hahah aww, thanks!

@SK, OMG you're lucky that someone lived up to your expectations at least :P hahaha