Sacred Games (142 page)

 

paya
Goat's Trotters curry.

 

peda
A sweet dish.

 

peetal
Brass.

 

peri pauna
‘I touch your feet'. This is something one says as one touches the feet of an elder, or someone who is immensely respected.

 

peti
Bombay slang for Rs. 100,000 (one lakh).

 

PG
Paying Guest. This abbreviation can be used to describe a person who lives in someone else's house (usually taking one room) and pays rent, or it can be used for the accommodations themselves. As in, ‘She just found a really good PG in Bandra'.

 

phat
An onomatopoeia; something like the sound a balloon makes when it's punctured. Sometimes used to describe something vanishing, imploding.

 

phataak
Explosive, hot. The sound of an explosion.

 

phatakdi
Sexy as a firecracker. A ‘pataka' is a firecracker, so ‘phatakdi' refers to the explosion a firecracker can make.

 

Phoolon ki Raani
This is the title of a fictional film, ‘Queen of Flowers'.

 

phuljadi
Sparkler.

 

pir
A Sufi saint and teacher.

 

pohe
Spicy snack made from rice flakes.

 

prasad
Food that is offered to a deity, and then is consumed with the belief that the god or goddess has blessed the offering.

 

PSI
Police Sub-Inspector.

 

pucca, kuchcha
A pucca dwelling is made of bricks and cement. ‘Pucca' is literally ‘solid' or ‘permanent', as opposed to ‘kuchcha' or ‘soft' or ‘impermanent'. A ‘kuchcha' construction is made of mud or
clay and other found materials, and therefore starts leaking or washes away at the first hard rain. Therefore you want a ‘pucca' house, which is hard to afford.

 

pugree
A turban. Also ‘pug'.

 

puja
Prayer.

 

pujari
Priest.

 

Pyaar ka Diya
This is the title of a made-up Hindi film, ‘The Lamp of Love'.

 

ragdo
To rub, to scrape, to wear down. The word can also be used as a noun: ‘ragda' is ‘the rub', or ‘rubbing'.

 

Rakshak
The word literally means ‘Protector'.

 

rakshasa
In Hindu mythology, the rakshasas are a race of demons or goblins.

 

randi
Whore.

 

rangroot
Recruit.

 

Ravana
The great king of Lanka who is the antagonist of the
Ramayana
. He is actually a deeply knowledgeable scholar and a great yogi.

 

RAW
Research and Analysis Wing. India's foreign intelligence agency.

 

Rehne do, yaaron, main door ja raha hoon
This is from a song from
International Dhamaka
, the film that Gaitonde produces: ‘Leave me be, friends, I am going far away'.

 

reshmi ujala hai
Part of a line from a song from the Hindi film
Sharmilee
(‘The Shy One', 1971): ‘The light is silken…'

 

rishi
A sage, a seer.

 

saadi
Literally, ‘ordinary'. Here, a category of cheap distilled liquor or tharra, often made and sold illegally.

 

Sabse Bada Paisa
Literally, ‘The Largest Money'. This is the name of a made-up TV show.

 

Sadrakshanaaya Khalanighranaaya
This is Sanskrit, and is the motto of the Bombay police: ‘Protect the virtuous, punish the wicked'.

 

Sai Baba
Sai Baba is a famous guru famed for the miracles he performs in front of crowds of thousands.

 

sala
Wife's brother. Also used as a form of mild abuse.

 

salwar-kameez
A traditional outfit worn by women in the Indian subcontinent—the kameez is a long shirt, and the salwar is a pair of loose trousers.

 

samaan
Your stuff, your luggage. But used in the Bombay underworld for a handgun.

 

Sardar
A Sikh.

 

sarkari
Governmental.

 

sarvajanik
Public, for everyone, for all people.

 

sasural
The house of your in-laws. So, a house that is not yours but you are very familiar with, that you visit often. Career criminals therefore refer to jail as their ‘sasural'.

 

satrangi
Literally, ‘seven-coloured'. Here, a category of cheap distilled liquor or tharra, often made and sold illegally.

 

saunf
Fennel seed.

 

shabash
‘Well done', or ‘Good job'.

 

shagun
Portent, augury.

 

shakha
A shakha is the smallest unit or cell of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a nationalist Hindu organization. ‘Shakha' is literally ‘branch' in Sanskrit. Each shakha meets in the morning or evening to play games, learn tactics and the use of weapons, and to engage in rituals and debates. These meetings are usually held in playgrounds or open spaces, which allows numbers of people to gather for sports and exercise.

 

shamiana
A large tent. Such tents are often used at weddings and other functions attended by sizable numbers of people.

 

shamshan ghat
The place where dead bodies are burnt.

 

shandaar
Magnificient, glorious. ‘Shandaar party' is a phrase often used in Hindi movies.

 

shanne
‘Shanne' is what you call someone who is cunning, sneaky, or at least is trying to be. Depending on the intonation, a shanna can be someone who is trying to be overly smart.

 

shosha
Gimmickry with no real substance. Perhaps from ‘show'—Indians like to repeat words or sounds for emphasis. So, ‘What is this show-sha?'

 

Shri
An honorific, similar to ‘Mr' and used for men. The equivalent term for women is ‘Shrimati'.

 

sindoor
The red powder traditionally worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.

 

SP
Superintendent of Police.

 

supari
A murder contract. The word actually refers to betel nuts, which are eaten to freshen the mouth. In the underworld, supari now refers to the proposal and acceptance of a hit.

 

takli
Bald head.

 

tapasya
Meditative practise, often involving very rigorous physical and spiritual austerity.

 

tapori
Small time street hood, a punk.

 

Tarai gun maya mohi aayi
This is a line from the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. Here, it is sung as a ‘kirtan' or hymn: ‘Maya (illusion) with her three gunas—the three dispositions—has come to entice me; who can I tell of my pain?'

 

taveez
A talisman, often blessed by a holy man.

 

thela
A thela is a small cart. Street vendors typically sell their wares from thelas, which they push about.

 

thoko
‘Thoko' is literally ‘to hit', or ‘to thump'. It's also underworld slang for killing, in the same way that American mafiosi use ‘hit'. Less often, it is used in the context of sex, to mean ‘to fuck'.

 

thoku
A ‘thoku' is someone who is thumped, hit; a lover who is a thoku is someone who is just banged, used for sex. It's a very belittling and vulgar thing to call someone.

 

tikkar-billa
Hopskotch.

 

tope
Literally, ‘cannon'. Used sometimes as vulgar slang for the penis.

 

TRP
An abbreviation for ‘Television Rating Points'. An industry system of evaluating the popularity of television programs.

 

Tu hi meri manzil
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Guide
(1965): ‘You are my aim, my only destination'.
Guide
was based on R. K. Narayan's novel
The Guide
.

 

Tu kahan ye bataa, is nasheeli raat mein
…These lines are from the Hindi film
Tere Ghar ke Samne
(‘In Front of your House', 1963): ‘Tell me, where are you, in this intoxicating night?' See also
He, chand taaron ne suna.

 

UP
Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India.

 

usal
Colloquially, a collective term for the various pulses—moog, matki, masoor, waal, chavli and others—that can be used to make the typically Maharashtrian dish ‘usal'.

 

uttapam
A southern dish, similar to the dosa, that is made from rice and lentils.

 

vada-pau
A ‘vada' is a fried potato cutlet, more or less. ‘Pau' is Portuguese for bread. So the cutlet is put between slices of bread or in a sliced bread roll, and you get something like a vegetarian hamburger.

 

Vahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jayega kahan?
A line from the Hindi film
Guide
(1965): ‘Traveller—who, there, is yours? Where will you go?'

 

Vaheguru
The term for God in Sikhism. Vaheguru is eternal, formless, and beyond all qualities and descriptions.

 

Vallavh re nakhva ho, vallavh re Rama
This is a line from a traditional Marathi song: ‘Row, o boatman. Row, o Rama'.

 

vatan
Home, country. This is a tremendously emotive word that encompasses all the passionate feelings one has for one's birthplace, for one's native earth.

 

vediya
Crazy guy, nutcase.

 

ye dil na hota bechaara
Line from a song from the Hindi film
Jewel Thief
(1967). ‘If this heart weren't so destitute…'

 

Yeh shaam mastani, madhosh kiye jaye
This is a line from a song from the Hindi film
Kati Patang
(‘Drifting Kite', 1970): ‘This beautiful evening intoxicates me…'