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 gunasthe three dispositionshas 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 pulsesmoog, matki, masoor, waal, chavli and othersthat 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): 'Travellerwho, 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 '
About the Author
VIKRAM CHANDRA was born in New Delhi. His first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995), won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book and the David Higham Prize for Fiction. His collection of short stories, Love and Longing in Bombay (1997), won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book (Eurasia Region) and was a New York Times Notable Book. Vikram Chandra divides his time between Mumbai and Berkeley, where he teaches at the University of California. His work has been translated into eleven languages.
www.vikramchandra.com
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