Author Archives: starryskies

Proverb for calling people out

Context & Background:

An example of a proverb used to make fun of people or call people out. Translated from Hindi to English. Informant – collector’s father. 

Performance: (in person)

Proverb: “Naach Na Ai, Aangan Teda”

Transliteration:

Naach: dance

Na: not

Ai: know 

Aagna: floor/courtyard

Teda: uneven/slanted

Translation: Don’t know dance, then the floor is slanted.  

Explanation: If you don’t know how to dance, you blame it on the dance floor. You don’t admit to not knowing, you just blame it on someone else. Basically blaming your bad dancing to the uneven dance floor, not your faulty skills.     

Analysis:  

This proverb is used to call people out on their bluffs. It is often used with children when they blame someone else for a mistake they’ve made. An example of a situation where this proverb can be used is when a dad tries to fix the plumbing, and isn’t able to because he doesn’t know how to do it, but blames it on tools he has or the materials he has. In that case, the mom would say – “Naach Na Ai, Aangan Teda.” Based on a true story. This proverb comes from the big dance culture in North India and dance is present during festivals, which there are a lot of. So incorporating dance into a proverb seems natural. 

Hard work pays off

Context & Background:

Another proverb used a lot in Indian families. Sets the values of the household and teaches kids good lessons from a young age. Translated from Hindi to English.  Informant – collector’s father. 

Performance: (in person)

Proverb: “Mehnat Karne Walo Ki Kabhi Haar Nahi Hoti”

Transliteration:

Mehnat: Hard work

Karne: to do

Walo: person 

Ki: they

Kabhi: never

Haar: defeat

Nahi: not

Hoti: happen 

Translation: If you work hard, you will never lose 

Explanation: The same as the translation, the proverb compels that if you work hard, nothing, not even fate can stop you from winning. Or that fate will conspire to make you win if you work hard enough.    

Analysis:  

I believe that one of the top Indian values is working hard. This comes from historical times, as India was under British rule for almost 200 years before the revolution that gave India independence. The revolution ended in 1947, which is not too long ago. The core message in the revolution was anti-violence, promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, but also to keep working hard. I believe that the emphasis of this proverb comes from the revolutionary sentiment and that’s why it has a special place in Indians’ hearts. It also connects well with what a lot of Indian parents want, for their child to do well at school and ultimately become successful.

Nazar Utarna

Context & Background:

The informant is an old lady from Rajasthan (north India) and my late grandfather’s family friend, and she explains the tradition of warding off bad spirits or bad luck from a person.

Performance: (via phone call)

The act of purifying or taking away the bad spirit is called “Nazar Utarna”. Translation: Remove the evil eye. What we do is, we take a piece of cotton that we use for religious ceremonies and dip it in mustard oil. We then have to take an oath of silence until we complete the whole removal process. We take the oil dipped cotton to the person who we are purifying and wave the cotton around them but not touch them. We go around the entire body in a circular motion, vertically from feet to head, 12 times, to take away all the bad spirits around the person. The cotton has now absorbed all the bad spirits and we go and burn the cotton, either in the kitchen sink or anywhere else. The longer the cotton burns, the more bad spirits you had around you, but now they are gone. Once the cotton has burned, the silence oath is over.  

Analysis:

I asked the lady if this was somehow a religious ceremony, and she said no really. This has elements of religiousness and hinduism, like using the cotton that is used in other religions ceremonies, but it isn’t written in any holy book and the priests don’t tell you to do this type of thing. This is purely a tradition that has been passed down for generations. This ceremony was also performed in my house, and I thought it was really weird and didn’t take it seriously at all, but now that I analyze it more, the concepts of the actions make sense. Like the absorption of the spirit and burning it makes more sense than a lot of other superstitions that I have heard like sage or garlic garlands. This can also be considered as magic, contagious magic, as the cotton is somehow associated with the bad spirits around a person and they are being burned, and homeopathic magic, because anyone can replicate this action. You just need to believe in the magic.

For another version see: 

Rgyan Admin, et al. “Easy Ways To Remove Evil Eye (Buri Nazar Nivarak Sujhav).” Rgyan, 26 Mar. 2020, rgyan.com/blogs/easy-ways-to-remove-evil-eye-buri-nazar-nivarak-sujhav/.

Period Stains and Pens

Context & Background: 

Informant is a childhood friend of the collector. They went to school together from 4th grade to 7th grade in Bangalore, India. Here is a story that the informant told about their time at school and the unusual circumstances that girls in the school had to go through. 

Performance: (via phone call)

You know that those years (ages 10-14) are times of development. Naturally, all the girls in my class, and I’m sure yours as well, started getting their periods for the first time. And as you should remember, we had an all white uniform. So, period stains on the white skirts were inevitable. And it was so embarrassing at the time, like I had encounters where I wanted to help a girl but she would deny that she was on her flow. Anyways, I noticed after a few months of getting mine that us girls learned a new trick to cover up any accidental stains. At the school, we always had to write with ink pens, and so if the period stain was small, we would cover up and scribble on the stain with the ink. And then, it would seem like an ink stain and not a period stain. However, once this got around, we got to know the meaning behind the ink stains, but at least it wasn’t as embarrassing as a bright red stain. 

Analysis:

I encountered and performed this little trick in the past as well. The reason the ink stain trick got invented in the first place is because people in India are very conservative and think of periods as taboo. This comes from the fact that for a long time, India considered girls less than boys, and so women’s issues were never addressed. The fallout from that mentality still persists today and so period stains are still very embarrassing in the culture. Not to say that they aren’t embarrassing in any other cultures, but especially in Indian culture. Another note is that there isn’t as much freedom in Indian schools as there is in Western countries’ schools because of the strict uniform. If there are difficulties at that time of the month, girls usually dress differently to accommodate for that, but that isn’t possible in India and so they have to come up with other tricks to hide natural occurrences.