And so our newspapers, air waves and social media are just full of election news, who’s won from which constituency, how will the entire plan pan out, a whole bunch of characters clamouring for a position or post in the recent landslide victory.
And so our newspapers, air waves and social media are just full of election news, who’s won from which constituency, how will the entire plan pan out, a whole bunch of characters clamouring for a position or post in the recent landslide victory. Man, so many names, who are they? What do they want? It’s all so confusing! Plus Bollywood and the Indian Premier League (IPL) are jostling for space on our front pages, obviously, so you dear readers are caught in the middle, between SRK being banned from the Wankhede and LK wanting a ministerial post. I empathise for the barrage of information being flung at you. May I offer you a glossary of terms, a dictionary to help you understand words you might find incomprehensible. Here it is:
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Illustration/Amit Bandre
1. Togadia: (verb) - meaning, intense feelings of hate and prejudice. As in ‘Jack really togadias Jill, because she pushed him down the hill, and he lost his crown.’
2. Ramdev: (noun) - a strange sound that emanates from a person’s stomach.
‘Ramdevs emanating out of Laloo’s mouth were incoherent but loud.'
3. Vadra: this is a complicated word. With multiple meanings -
>>Illegal ownership of vast tracts of land
>> Marrying into a dynastic family
So the sentence would read — ‘He owned vadra all over Delhi and then became a vadra.’
4. Mamata: A Mamata is another word for a large megaphone. ‘To address his followers, Mulayam used a large mamata.’
5. Muthalik: (from the Latin word mutilatum; meaning to destroy). But when used in a sentence, the word has two very different connotations
>> The act of targeting women in pubs and receiving scores of pink underwear in
retaliation
>> To be accepted into a group and be thrown out in a swift, simultaneous movement. So - ‘He found himself being bodily muthaliked by a large bouncer from Hawaiin Shack.’
6. Digvijay: a natural phenomenon whereby a small action has large consequences. ‘To the naked eye, the meteor seemed small, till it landed on earth causing a truly gigantic dijvijay.’
7. Kejriwal: from the Sanskrit word, ‘Kejriwah’ which means jumping from a boat into a water body dressed only in a chequered lungi. As in — ‘He was so overjoyed that he kejriwalled into the Ganges dressed only in a chequered lungi.’
8. Abuazmi: (verb and noun)
As a verb: The inability to keep one’s mouth shut embarrassing one’s friends and family. As a noun: Severe disrespect of the fairer sex. As in, ‘I could slap that guy, he really abuazmied me.’
9. Sushma: a giant sulk. ‘Asterix was tired of Obelix’s constant sushmas.’
10. Adani: (from the Persian word ‘ada’ meaning annexation of great wealth) However the word has devolved into a slang word — ‘Chiranjeevi’s hard work in the gym has paid off, he now boasts a 56-inch adani.’
11. Arnab: from the Oriya word ‘Arnob’ which translates as Timesnow — ‘In these arnabs of Bollywood badshahs, Anna Hazare has cast himself in a movie.’
12. And finally talking of Bollywood, the word, aliabhatt: An aliabhatt is a sensationally stupid answer to a regular question. For instance -What is Modi’s surname?— The aliabhatt to that is ‘Sarkar.’
Rahul da Cunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahuldacunha62 @gmail.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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