It's only words

This morning my father was reading out a text when my grandma asked him who had sent it. He said "P from Delhi, T's gharwala" (Gharwala: The  man she lives with, i.e her husband) I found the statement so funny that I almost burst out laughing ( I say almost coz we can't really burst out laughing at some situations.) 


It is not essentially a funny statement. I wanted to laugh because of the way it sounded- old Hindi film-ish. No one uses such phrases anymore. 


There is a tremendous gap in how we speak and and how our parents spoke. Forget Hindi, words old English   bu-shirt (half sleeved shirt)  are so much out of league that I have forbidden my dad to use it. He now tries hard to remember to say Half sleeved shirt instead. 


Infact, even my sister's lingo is very different from mine. ( There is, after all a 9 year gap between us) She has a favourite set of phrases  that she sprinkles generously in all her conversations. 


"How dumb" is used for any situation, regardless of what she actually thinks about it. Then there is "Awara types" (Awara basically refers to a useless person, who roams around because he/she does not have any work/commitments/responsibilities)  She may exclaim- "Kitne Awara type ke ho"  or greet me and mom with "Hello Awara ladies! "


She uses phrases without reason, it may or may not apply to the what is happening around her. But I tell you, it's fun.It's even more fun when my father gets scandalised when he hears her refer to her friends as "bakwas", dhaba or anything that sounds like an insult to him. He does realise that this is the way we speak, he accepts it but can't help but be bemused by it. 


I often end up using some phrases used often by people I am close to. My friend Kaniti used to say Jhat a lot. I picked it up from her and both of us use to splash it everywhere. (example Jhat jolle na tor: Ok I can't translate this, sorry) AK and I used to use "Kya pharak parta hai" ( It doesn't matter) and "Amar kichu jaye ashe na"( It doesn't affect me/I don't care) 


I, for my part love to say ainwayi  (  Which means just like that in punjabi) It's something I use often. Many of us exclaim "sahi hai", "mast" when something meets our approval. The 50+ people can keep being amused/bemused by the words around them.   I think having a having a specific lingo is fun. It is ainwayi, after all.