Bombay Stories

GLOSSARY

Here, the in-text transliteration precedes a more rigorous rendering of the Urdu vowels and nasalization: hamzah is indicated with a single closed quotation mark (’) and ain, with a single open quotation mark (’).

Adana raag name babu respectful title for a man older than the speaker and of higher socio-economic status bahar vala literally ‘outside person’ but in Bombay slang, ‘tea boy’ beora local Indian alcohol bhangan a woman of the sweeper caste bhapa dad bismillah phrase that means ‘in the name of God’ that is used before you begin anything new and colloquially can be used to express surprise changli ‘good’ in Marathi chane ‘fish scales’ in Punjabi chikku the sapodilla fruit chuna lime, or the white acidic paste from the berries of the evergreen tree Citrus aurantifolia used in preparing paan dalal pimp dhani Indian dance step dhrupad genre of north Indian music thought to be the oldest extant classical music tradition in India ghatin a woman of a low caste in Bombay who does menial labour kaserail ki peti type of peti kashta sari that at nine yards is longer than average and that is wrapped in a special way — passed from the front between a woman’s legs and tucked into the waist from behind — and associated with the underclasses and with coarse eroticism lahaul wala quwat the phrase ‘there is no sway or strength but that of God’ can be said to repel Satan or when you want to express something along the lines of ‘shit’ or ‘to hell with it’ Malkos raag name Mian ki todi raag name paan/pan digestive concoction that usually includes grated betel nut and tobacco Patdeep raag name peti small instrument used to accompany singing sang-e-aswad the Black Stone in the Ka’aba in Mecca sayyan/sa’ĩ wandering Muslim holy man, fakir seth a banking caste, or colloquially, a rich man shalwar kameez/qamiz pants and blouse set shervani long coat for men that extends several inches below the knees Tandau Shiva’s angry dance