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This brings me to the publication of what I can best describe as a drinking man or woman’s dictionary compiled by Bhaichand Patel, entitled Happy Hours & The Penguin Book of Cocktails. It deals methodically with different kinds of whiskey, gin, rum, brandy, liquor, beer — you name them, he tells you about them; and how to avoid or combat hangovers. Bhaichand lives in a block next to mine. He is a Fijian Gujarati who I got to know in my years in Bombay. He held a good job in the UN and now gets a handsome dollar pension. He also has a valuable real estate in New Delhi. In short, he is never short of money. He is what the French call a bon viveur (a good living man). He believes that money is meant to be spent, not hoarded. He travels around the globe at least once every year. When in Delhi, his top priority is partying. He throws the most lavish parties with vintage Scotch, gourmet food and the best of wines. So he is well-qualified to write on liquor delights with authority. The most amusing part of his research is the vast variety of cocktails with exotic names like Fine & Dandy, Kiss in the Dark, Knicker-Brocker, Maiden’s Blush, Pink Passport, Seventh Heaven, Suffering Bastard, Kiss & Tell, Sex on the Beach etc. You can get tipsy reading about them. Modes of address
However, caretakers of gurdwaras and raagis are also addressed as bhai sahibs more to express respect for them than friendship. Amongst friends bhai is used as expression of kinship and when discussing serious matters of life and death. Closer than bhai is dost (friend). It is warmer than bhai. We use it while talking about lighter matters or exchanging confidences. A grade higher and closer than dost is yaar. The closest English equivalent I can think of is comrade without its Communist connotations. It is requite light-hearted, open-armed kind of embrace of friendship. But beware! Yaar and yaaree are different. In Punjab yaree lagaana means having liaison with a member of the other sex. Believe it or not, of all modes of addresses, the warmest is to call your friend ulloo ka pattha (son of an owl). No offence is meant, only all barriers of formality are knocked down and you open up your hearts. One condition has to be kept in mind. There must be some laughter in calling a close friend son of an owl. Without laughter and said sternly, the same words become abusive, particularly if prefixed with oy, oy, oy. Addressing another with oy, oy, oy or abey ulloo kay patthey becomes a war cry for battle of abuses to begin. |
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English
and other European languages have innumerable words for different levels
of drunkenness. We have very few in our languages. The reason may be
that Europeans and Americans consume a lot more alcohol than we Indians,
and even those who drink, try to keep their identities under cover. Come
to think of it, we don’t have an equivalent for a hangover, which
follows excessive drinking and mixing different kinds of alcoholic
beverages.
In
northern India there are different ways of addressing people, depending
on distances in relationship. The commonest is bhai (brother), or
more formally bhai sahib, or bhaiya.