Talk East Indian to me: Here's how a business archivist is preserving community dialect through online quizzes

Kitchen items at the Kaka Baptista East Indian Museum. Pic Courtesy /MGP

It would be impossible to comprehend today's Mumbai by looking into the history of just one culture; whether it emerged from the original land or settled on it to call it home. And while our diverse cultures are celebrated today, some have been revived and others seem to be lost or not popularly known.

Candida Remedios, an East Indian (EI) resident of Vikhroli, introduces her culture through its dialect - East Indian Marathi. Community members have long aimed at preserving it through festivals, events, setting up the Kaka Baptista East Indian museum and their last big effort - publishing the East Indian dialect to English language dictionary (see pic) in 2019. Remedios worked on the dictionary as the project coordinator, and armed with the extensive knowledge of the dialect, she decided to do something fun with it. Taking a cue from International Mother Language Day on February 21, 2020, she conducted an East Indian dialect quiz on her Instagram handle just for family. Receiving terrific response, she continued with the idea, and now, over two years later, the 31-year-old business archivist has created a community of people from various backgrounds who tune in every Sunday for her quiz.

Lugra is the traditional East Indian saree

She notes how the quizzes introduce a unique part of the city to Mumbaikars who aren't EIs, piquing their interest. Considering the dialect consists of root words borrowed from Marathi, Portuguese, Konkani and Hindi, Remedios says, "Anyone with a working knowledge of Hindi or Marathi should be able to answer the questions in my quiz. In fact, from research, I've noticed Urdu words trickling into the dialect, too."

At the same time, she has received feedback on some quizzes being too hard to crack. This could be attributed to the dialect being largely undocumented and currently restricted to older generations or EI hamlets called gaothans. There's also a difference in pronunciations as one moves from the eastern to the western suburbs, Remedios informs us.

Sago and sweet potato kheer called chaais

With this in mind, she shares the value that an audio guide or dictionary would add. "We don't have a script. And if you're unfamiliar with the dialect, words with a nasal sound ending in ‘r', are written with ‘m'. There's a good chance the uninitiated pronounce the ‘m' when it's not needed."

Over the years, Remedios has played with formats available on Instagram and experimented with different themes like EI Portuguese surnames, professions, ingredients, and quintessential things found in households. She's even translated English movie titles. The Mummy Returns in the dialect, she says, is a hilariously phrased ‘Aais Parat Aili'. A sneak peek into her upcoming quiz - it's going to be all about pop music, she says. Imagine translating the songs, I want it that way or Sexy eyes.

Christmas konswad or sweet platter

Remedios' deep-dive into the culture started in college when trying to explain what an East Indian is doing on the West coast of India and that EIs are, in fact, a community originally from Mumbai. "It's very important we capture and document all parts of our culture before it is lost," she concludes.

From the quizmaster

1. If we're heading to Bhoiwara, which location are we referring to?
>> Andheri
>> Parel
>> Byculla

Candida Remedios

2. They call me Shera. What is my name?
>> Sarah
>> Sierra
>> Saira

3. Sweet rice vermicelli is called...
>> Letri
>> Shev
>> Patoli

4. I stay in Vandarkarin. You may also call it...
>> Wankhede
>> Vangari
>> Bandra

5. Pickle is also called…
>> Achaar
>> Loncha
>> Ambut

Answers
1. Parel, 2. Sarah, 3. Letri 4. Bandra, 5. Loncha

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