Hyderabadi and Gun Control

 A blue-blooded American was trying to make a Hyderabadi understand the Gun Laws of his great nation- and not succeeding. We will try and follow the conversation, for a bit.

Hyderabadi- Kya pareshaani hai bhai, yeh bandookaan..

American- You see, we have the right to defend ourselves.

Hyderabadi- Kya bolre miyaan, humareku nahi hai kya? Ek ungli uthaake dekho tum, kya haal hota malum padinga..

American- No, no, I mean we can carry a gun to defend ourselves.

Hyderabadi- Aisa? Phukat mein milta kya ye bandook aap logon ku?

American (proudly)- Of course not, man. We buy them at the nearest supermarket..

Hyderabadi- Paise deke apne aapku barbaad karre bolo na phir..

American- You call that barbaadi? What if a thief enters your house and opens fire when you catch him? Don't you want a gun to shoot him?

Hyderabadi- Kya baataan karre bhai, usku chappal phenkke martun na main.. dekhe mera chappal? Bandook apne pairon mein maar liye to, chupke to bi lene ke dene pad jaate na..

American- Oh my God! You are impossible. (Exits)

Hyderabadi Translations of Hindi Film Songs

 How would a Hyderabadi lyricist have approached the following?

Kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna? Chhodo bekar ki baton mein kahin beet na jaye raina?

My guess- Kuchh to bolinge logaan, apan kaiku sunna? Bekar ke baataan hai, raataan kaiku kharaab karna?

Kehna hai, kehna hai, aaj tumse yeh pehli baar tum hi to layi ho jeevan mein mere pyar pyar pyar

and its equivalent- Kabse ki bolna bolke sochrun tha, tumich laye meri zindagi mein pyar bolke.

-Main na bhoolunga, in rasmon ko in kasmon ko in rishte naaton ko..

Maybe this-Kabbi nahin bhooltun, ye rasma, yeh kasma, ye rishte, kuch bhi nahi bhooltun.

Aloo ki bhaji, baingan ka bharta bolo ji bolo kya khaoge

probably, Kya khate bolo, baingan ke baataan mat karo, bolrun main.

Hyderabadi Finally Gets It

No, he gets what's Corona, not the virus. Finally..

Panicking Non-Hyderabadi: (PN) Samajh mein aaya miya, kaiku ghar meich rehna bolre?

Hyderabadi (H): Hau, ab main baharich nahin nikaltun dekho. Magar ek baat samajh mein nahin aari, ghar mein baithke kya karna bolke..

PN: Kuchh bhi karo- taash khelo, saanp seedhi khelo,

H: Yeh bachhon ke kaamaan hain, main kaisa khel saktoon?

PN: Kitabaan padho.

H: Hai kahaan padhneku? Bookstoraan kabke band ho gaye-yeh Corona se bhot pehle!

PN: Hau, woh bhi sahi hai..to phir emailaan likho na?

H: Kisku likhun? Koi padhta aaj kal emailaan?

PN: Phir picture dekho koi bhi.

H: Hum logon ku bolne ki zaroorat hai? Sab dekh liya so hoon..

PN: Chai banake piyo phir har ghante mein..

H: Subah se aath cup pee liya na ab tak..

PN: Aisa? Phir to khana khaake so jao..khwaabaan aate achhe achhe..

H: Kya baat bole yaaro, pehle nahin bolna tha? Jaarun, kal milinge!

Explaining Corona to a Hyderabadi

Hyderabadis are quite rugged, and have survived the plague, Irani chai hotel waiters, and the like. It's not easy to get them to panic. Here is a brave attempt.

Panicking Man (P.M.): (trying to get Hyderabadi to panic)- Kya karre miya? Itta bhi light mat lo..Bahar nakko jao bole na aapku?

Hyderabadi (H): Magar kaiku bolre, bolo na?

P.M.: Ek virus rehta babu, Corona naam ka, unhe jump maarke aapku pakad leta, iske waaste bolre miya..

H: Hau? Yeh viruson ku koi kaam nahi hai kya? Kaiku to bhi idhar se udhar koodrein? Ek jagah nahin baith sakte?

P.M.: Aisich dikhra, aapke jaisich.. ek jagah aapku bhi baitho bolke bolre..ghar mein baithke biryani kha sakte na? Bahar mat niklo bole, uttaich.

H: Chillar kar dere na? Ghar mein baithe to ab tak biwi chillari thi, baahar niklo, kuchh kaam karo bolke. Ab bahar gaye to musibat. Magar biryani kaisa banate? Gosht to lana padinga pehle, markit se..

P.M.: Nahin miya, home dilivary karte katey sab logaan, gosht bechnewale bhi, aur chawal bechnewale bhi..

H: Aisa? Abbich phone lagatun unku.. Begum, tab tak zara chai-ich pilado na,..

..and though he refused to actually panic, the Hyderabadi settled down on his diwan, and waited for his chai..

Lost in Translation?

It's fun translating things into another language..so I decided to translate a few song lines into Hyderabadi from Hindi (for those unaware, these are two distinct languages- like French and Chinese)-

Jab pyar kiya to darna kya?
 Pyar karinge, kaiku to bi daringe?

Naam gum jaayega
 Gum hote yaaro, hoshiyar rehna.

Papa ko Mummy se pyar hai
 Bawa ku ammi se pyar hai..

Nahi nahi, abhi nahi, abhi karo intezaar..
  Nakko nakko, abbii nakko bolrun na..

Thoda ruk jayegi to tera kya jayega?
  Thoda ruke to qayamat aa jati?

Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar..
 Hume kaale hain to kya hua dilwale hain..

Akele akele kahaan ja rahe ho?..
 Badkamma Badkamma Badkamma ekkada potau ra? (Telugu is also a part of Hyderabadi)

Hyderabadi Conversation

Kya karra re tu?

Kaiku?

Aise kochhanaa nahin poochhna miyan. Kya tobhi karinge na. Chal merku bore marra, picture dekhke ainge Abids jaake.

Picturaan dekhneku time kahaan hai yaaro, yahaan din raat kaam karaare bossaan..uski to..

Gaaliyan nakko do yaaron, salary bhi deraa na uneich?

Kaheki salary? Idhar se aati, udhar chale jati, maloomich nahi hota kab aayi, kab gayi bolke.

Diwali ka bonus milta honga na tumku?

Kaunsi Diwali? Idhar apna diwala nikalne ku aaya..aur patakhe bhi nahin phodna kate abbi.

The Making of Hyderabadi Biryani

This is not dumb, but Dum Biryani.  This is how it's made in Hyderabad. A friend made it in Indore this time though, and these are pics describing the process briefly.

 The finished product is above. But let's begin at the beginning. First, make flavourful rice with spices added to water, which is boiled, and rice and salt added, and cooked about 80%  in the open vessel so that the rice is non-sticky -drain extra water (left, below). Fry onions till brown, and keep aside (right).

 Cook chicken (again, slightly less than fully cooked) after marinating it in dahi (curd) and spices. It should have some gravy, similar to a chicken curry. Have some ghee handy.

 After these are all ready, comes the interesting part. Put a layer of rice, followed by chicken and fried onion, and some ghee, chicken again, and all the rest, until you come to the top of the vessel. Sprinkle some garam masala and some saffron mixed with milk, and seal the vessel-use a clean wet cloth, or some wet flour as the seal. Let it simmer after putting it on a hot tava, for about 30 minutes. Enjoy with raita and mirchi ka saalan, a spicy green chilli curry.

One of the secret ingredients is Shahjira!

On Being a Hyderabadi

I call myself a Hyderabadi because in my tender (!) formative years, I spent my time in and around Hyderabad. Picked up the lingo, which is pure fun to listen to (I know purists may disagree), and speak. Also picked up an easy-going lifestyle, which after Goa's sussegad is probably the best way to live (again, workaholics or generally disagreeable types may choose to disagree).

Eating Hyderabadi biryani comes next. You can't take the biryani out of a Hyderabadi. It has to be accompanied by Mirchi ka Saalan to make it completely fulfilling (why do I hear folks salivating?). It can be eaten at any time of the day, or night. Irani chai, likewise. And during Ramzaan, haleem is added to the regular menu.

Movies in a Hyderabadi cinema hall used to be a treat. Great theatres, numbering about 100, rivalled only by Bangalore at the time. I still remember seeing Anand (and Damaad) in Navrang, and Sholay in Ramakrishna 70 mm (at this time I was in Hyderabad Public School), Don in Tarakarama, and Chitchor in Ramakrishna 35 mm. There were a few theatres that only screened English films, like Sangeet in Secunderabad and Skyline in Basheerbagh. Probably Tivoli as well. When I was at Osmania engg. college, we used to return by a midnight local train to Jamai Osmania station, and walk back to our hostel after a late-night show. I must have seen enough Hindi films to do a Ph.D. on them.

Abids was the main shopping area at the time, though shopping was not my forte. The Birla Mandir came up on what was called Naubat Pahad earlier. Masab Tank where my Uncle and cousin stayed was a regular haunt. Tarnaka where my aunt lived was another. There was a Fever Hospital somewhere near Nallakunta where I also lived briefly, and an Erramanzil on the way to my school's earlier location. I saw a comic play called Adrak ke Panje in Hyderabadi at the Ravindra Bharati, a landmark, and it was hilarious! The film Karz released when we were about to finish college, and we saw it to celebrate the end of a chapter of our lives.
 

Anopheles Learns Hyderabadi

My winged friend Anopheles (the one who stings-others) was visiting, and I asked if she wanted to learn Hyderabadi, my native tongue. She agreed readily. So I taught her a few words, and gave her a test. She had to translate a few sentences from English into Hyderabadi. Here's how it went-

Why is there so much angst in the world?

Kaiku itte pareshaan hain logaan?

Do you think you are a great guy?

Motabbari hai kya? Apne aapku kyatobhi samajhrain?

Why do you want to fight? Let it go.

Kaiku lad lerain? Jaando yaaro!

Money comes and goes, but if you love each other,..

Paisa aainga, jainga, magar logaan ek dusreku pyar kareto..

She passed with flying colours..udte colouraan :)

Hyderabadi

There is a strange lingo called Hyderabadi which may be fast fading away. Some attempts at preservation -

Kaikoo? means Why? and How means Yes.

Kaikoo yaaro? means, Why, man?

Parso can mean day before yesterday, day after tomorrow or a year forward or back..as in "Parso main aaya thaa naa," to a long lost relative/friend.

Kya logaan hai yaaro, is a general cry of despair at anything which should not be happening, but has happened, with people, countries, continents or outer space.

Motabbari hai kya? roughly translates into 'Who do you think you are?' when said in the right tone (not a literal translation)

'Bataan nahi karte hum Hyderabadi' is a line from a song in one of Big B's films. It means, "We Hyderabadis don't just talk,...."

Hum kaale hain to kya hua dilwaale hain- was an immortal song filmed on Mehmood in 'Gumnaam' in which he uses Hyderabadi lingo.

The movie Bazaar starring Supriya Pathak and Farooq Sheikh had some excellent use of the lingo in the whole film.