June 14, 2008

SACRED GAMES GLOSSARY.

Kári Tulinius writes me to say:

I just finished reading Vikram Chandra's novel Sacred Games... It is mostly set in Mumbai and a large part of it takes place in the city's underworld. Therefore it is filled with lots of slang. There's a helpful glossary provided in the back of the book, but it also exists online, here.
You can also download it in pdf, rtf, or xls format here. The "a" section alone has material ranging from arthi "Funeral byre on which a person is carried to the burning grounds" to aaiyejhavnaya, aaiyejhavnayi "motherfucker," with some fairly substantial entries like:
Arre chetti kar, dooty par jaana hai

This is a Punjabi phrase that would translate roughly into something like, “Hey, hurry up, I have to go to my duty.” The “duty” in question is the speaker’s police shift. In India, putting in a day of work is often referred to as “doing duty.”

It's lots of fun, and definitely gets me interested in the novel!

Posted by languagehat at June 14, 2008 07:58 PM
Comments

What a coincidence: I just got my hands on the dvds of the Munna Bhai series. I'm assuming that the words in this glossary (like 'bhai' = made man of the Mumbai mob) are prime examples of Bambaiya Hindi spoken by the main characters.

Posted by: bulbul at June 14, 2008 09:47 PM

Not necessarily the meaning of 'made man'. Bhai or dada means elder brother: repectively muslim and hindu usage; but not exclusively so, as north-indian hindus may also use bhai.

It is added on to the first name of someone who is older or of higher status (but not exclsively so)than you but whom you address informally.

Female equvalents are apa and didi (m/h - again, n.e.s!)

Posted by: Saif at June 15, 2008 07:07 AM

Thanks, Saif.

Posted by: bulbul at June 17, 2008 07:56 AM

"What a coincidence: I just got my hands on the dvds of the Munna Bhai series. I'm assuming that the words in this glossary (like 'bhai' = made man of the Mumbai mob) are prime examples of Bambaiya Hindi spoken by the main characters."

I well remember my sense of accomplishment when watching Lage Raho Munnabhai and being able to follow most of the Bambaiya without subtitles. I guess the number of different languages that have added to Bambaiya is a good reflection of the city's nature.

Posted by: Stuart at June 18, 2008 04:25 PM