Sacred Games (141 page)

 

Ke kitni muhabbat hai tumse, to paas aake to dekho
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Kasoor
(‘Crime', 2001): ‘To know how much I love you, come close and look'.

 

keeda
Literally, ‘worm'. Used colloquially to mean an inexplicable stubbornness about something, a deeply-held quirk tending toward obsession.

 

kelvan
This is one of the wedding rituals in Maharashtra: the bride's last meal as a maiden in her parents' house.

 

khabari
Informer. ‘Khabar' is ‘news'.

 

khadda
Literally, ‘hole' or ‘pit'. Used sometimes as vulgar slang for the vagina.

 

khata-khat
Fast, efficient. This is perhaps an onomatopoeia for the sound a machine makes.

 

khatara
A decrepit wreck.

 

khattia
A ‘khattia' or ‘khat' is a simple bed.

 

khichdi
A simple rice dish into which you can toss whatever is available. So the word is used for anything that's mixed up, has disparate ingredients.

 

khilte hain gul yahaan, khilake bikharane ko, milte hain dil yahaan, milke bichhadne ko
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Sharmilee
(‘The Shy One', 1971): ‘Flowers bloom here, only to fall. Hearts meet here, only to be sundered'.

 

khima
Ground meat dish, usually prepared with mutton. Can be quite spicy.

 

khiskela
Crazy, off. Literally, ‘moved' or ‘shifted'. So someone whose brain has shifted, is not in its right place, is ‘khiskela'.

 

kholi
A room. So someone who lives in a kholi probably lives in a one-room house.

 

khwaab ho tum ya koi haqiiqat, kaun ho tum batalaao
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Teen Deviyaan
(‘Three Ladies', 1965): ‘Are you a dream or reality? Tell me who you are'.

 

kshatriya
One of the four varnas of the Hindu caste system. The kshatriyas
were warriors, and regarded as one of the higher castes.

 

Kumbhkaran
One of the brothers of Ravana, the antagonist in the
Ramayana
. Kumbhkaran—through a boon granted by Brahma—slept for six months at a time, waking only to eat vast quantities of food.

 

Kya se kya ho gaya…
The lyrics of a song from a fictional Hindi film: ‘Look what has happened as we watch. My heart has fallen in love with you as we watch'.

 

Laddoo
A sweet dish; laddoos can be made from various substances, but they are always round.

 

Ladhi
This refers to firecrackers—a ‘ladhi' is a string of crackers, and can be very long.

 

lakh
A unit in the traditional Indian numbering system, equivalent to a hundred thousand.

 

Lallu
Weakling, a soft or ineffective person.

 

Lalten
Lantern.

 

Lambi
‘Lambi' is literally ‘long'. But in jail, a ‘lambi' is a knife or dagger, which is long in comparison to razor blades, the other weapon of choice. A lambi can be engineered from a door hinge or other such piece of metal. The word is also used to refer to a sword.

 

Langda-lulla
Crippled.

 

Lassi
A refreshing drink made from blended yogurt, water and spices. Lassis can be either sweet or salty.

 

Lat pat lat pat tujha chalana mothia nakhriyacha
This is a line from an old Marath Laavani or folk song, which has also been sung in a film. The sense is a bit hard to translate; it probably loses something in the change to English. The line is addressed to a woman. ‘Lat pat lat pat' is an onomatopoeia referring to how she walks, the swing of her hips. So the line is something like, ‘You walk with such airs, such style'. The last word in the fragment, ‘nakhriyacha', is a form of ‘nakhra', usually translated as ‘feminine airs or blandishments; affectation; coquetry; flirting'.

 

Lathi
Wooden baton carried and used by policemen, especially for crowd control.

 

Lauda
Penis, cock.

 

Leela
Play, the universe as the divine play of the Lord.

 

Lodu
A prick.

 

Loksatta
A Marathi newspaper.

 

London mein fielding lagao. Do team bhedzjo, Sachin aur Saurav dono. Ready rehna, instructions baad mein
Gaitonde is speaking in code here: ‘Set up fielding in London. Send two teams, Sachin and Saurav both. Stay ready, instructions will be sent later'. So he wants his subordinates to get ready for action in London; fielding—as in cricket—refers to getting people in place. ‘Sachin' and ‘Saurav' are code names for two of his own men; he's using the names of two very famous cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly.

 

lurkao
Literally, ‘to tumble', or to ‘throw over'. Therefore, to kill.

 

maderchod
Motherfucker, motherfucking.

 

maghai
A variety of leaf used in the making of sweet paan.

 

Mai re
An exclamation, ‘O mother!'

 

maidan
An open field, park, or square.

 

Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya
This is a line from a song from the Hindi film
Hum Dono
(‘The Two of Us', 1961): ‘I went along, keeping my faith with life…'

 

Majnoo
This is a reference to an old folktale that is popular all over South Asia and the Mideast, the story of Laila and Majnoo. ‘Majnoo' means ‘mad' in Arabic. This is the name given to a well-born young man named Qais, who is separated from his beloved Laila by her father, who wants to marry her to someone else. Qais, in despair, leaves home and wanders in the desert, hungry and ragged, and for his frenzy and ecstatic love is called ‘Majnoo' by the people. He eventually dies of starvation, still bereft. Laila kills herself on the day of her wedding.

 

makhmali andhera
Part of a line from a song from the Hindi film
Sharmilee
(‘The Shy One', 1971): ‘The darkness is velvet…'

 

malai
Cream.

 

Mamta
Literally, ‘mother's love'. Often used as a proper name.

 

Mamu
An affectionate way of saying ‘Mama', uncle—mother's brother.

 

Man ja ay khuda, itni si hai dua
These are lines from a song from the Hindi film
Yes, Boss
(1997): ‘Listen to me, God, grant me only this little wish…'

 

mandvali
A negotiation, settlement or compromise.

 

mangalsutra
A necklace of black beads, worn by married women.

 

Mantralaya
The state administrative headquarters or state ministry in Bombay (‘mantri' is ‘minister').

 

manuvadi
Manu was the author of the text
Manusmriti
, from which orthodox Hinduism draws many of its laws and practises, including the persecution and exploitation of the lower castes. A ‘manuvadi' is follower of Manu, which is to say someone from the upper castes.

 

marad sala aisaich hota hai
She's saying, in typical Bombay Hindi, ‘Bastard men are like this'.

 

Maratha
A group of Marathi-speaking castes from Maharashtra. They have traditionally been warriors and cultivators.

 

Marwari
Someone from Marwar, a region in Rajasthan. Marwaris—stereotypically—are known as sharp traders.

 

mathadi workers
Loaders, as in dockyards.

 

matka
The illegal numbers game in Bombay, which is very big business.

 

mausambi
Sweet lime.

 

mausi
Aunt—mother's sister.

 

MEA
Ministry of External Affairs (at the national level).

 

mehbooba mehbooba
Part of a song from the famous Hindi film
Sholay
(‘Embers', 1975). ‘Beloved, o my beloved…'

 

mehndi
Henna.

 

mere desh ki dharti sona ugle, ugle heere moti
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Upkar
(‘Good Works', 1967): ‘The earth of my country gives forth gold, it gives pearls and jewels'. The song is sung in the film by a farmer, so he's talking about the richness of his land.

 

Mere sahiba, kaun jaane gun tere?
This is from a ‘shabad'. The literal meaning of ‘shabad'—in Punjabi—is ‘word'. Here, in this context, ‘shabad' is the revealed word of Vaheguru, God; this is a line from a hymn or verse from the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. It translates, roughly, into something like, ‘O Lord, who can know your qualities?'

 

Mere sapnon ki rani kab aaye gi tu, aayi rut mastaani kab aaye gi tu…
This is a line from a song from the Hindi film
Aradhana
(‘Worship', 1969). ‘Oh queen of my dreams, when will you come? The intoxicating season has come, when will you come?'

 

monai
A low stool.

 

muchchad
‘Much' or ‘mooch' is a moustache. A ‘muchchad' is someone with an especially impressive moustache.

 

musst
Fine, flashy.

 

nada
Drawstring.

 

nakhras
This is Urdu for ‘coquetry, blandishments, charm, delicacy'. There's not a word or concept in English that's exactly appropriate for this very South Asian behaviour. The nearest one can come to it is to say that it consists of very delicate, very feminine flirtation that is understood by all sides to be partly artifice.

 

Namaskar
Synonymous with ‘namaste'—a respectful greeting; the palms are folded in front of the chest as the person says this.

 

narangi
Literally, the orange fruit. Here, it is used as the name of a flavoured liquor.

 

natevaik
Relatives, the community that one is a part of.

 

nau-number
Literally, ‘Number 9'. Bombay slang term for policemen.

 

neem
A native Indian tree (
Azadirachta indica
). The leaves and branches have numerous medicinal properties. Twigs from the neem are used as toothbrushes.

 

Nikki
Literally, ‘small'. In this book, used as a term to address Prabhjot Kaur.

 

Nirodh
A brand name for a condom introduced by the Government of India a few decades ago. These condoms are distributed free, and the advertisements for them were once ubiquitous.

 

nullah
A small open waterway. Often, sewers empty into nullahs.

 

OBC
An abbreviation for ‘Other Backward Caste', which is one of the classifications listed in the Indian constitution.

 

Om evam saraswatye namah
An invocation from a classical Sanskrit text: ‘Om! I honour the goddess Saraswati…'

 

One, two, chal shuru hoja
This is a line from a song from the Hindi film
Humjoli
(‘Friend', 1970): ‘One, two, let's start…'

 

paan
A sweet or savoury palate-cleanser made from various fillings folded within betel leaves.

 

paes
A rice dish (sometimes transliterated as ‘pej').

 

pag ghungru baandh Mira naachi thi
A line from a song from the Hindi film
Namak Halal
(‘Faithful', 1982): ‘With anklets on, Mira danced…'

 

paisa phek, tamasha dekh
‘Throw money, watch the spectacle'.

 

pallu
The loose end of a woman's sari, usually worn over the shoulder.

 

paltu
Tame.

 

PAN Card
‘PAN' stands for ‘Permanent Account Number', which all taxpayers are required to have by the Income Tax department.

 

panchnama
A first listing of the evidence and findings that a police officer makes at the scene of a crime. The document has to be signed by the investigating officer and two supposedly impartial witnesses.

 

pani
Water.

 

Pankhida tu uddi jaaje
This is from a popular song sung during garba dances: ‘O bird, fly away…' The lines which follow are:

Which mean:

paplu
The card game of rummy.

 

patta
Literally ‘strap', but in Bombay police stations it refers to a long piece of thick canvas taken from the kind of belt that drives machinery. The strap is then fixed to a wooden handle, and is used to hit prisoners during interrogation. The advantage for the policeman is that the patta doesn't leave as many marks as other implements.