Air India is back in the news again. Again for wrong reason. About 250 passengers of Air India who were to travel from Copenhagen to Delhi on June 30 were stuck in Denmark for two days. A San Francisco bound Air India flight was inordinately delayed causing chaos and confusion. A harangued passenger from Delhi in front of the camera retorted back - "BEHN**OD HADH KAR DI" (The sister slammers have crossed their limit).
I have flown Air India couple of times internationally, the last time was quite long ago in September, 2000. That was like almost 24 years when I was flying home from New York. There was nothing great home to write about the flight. The flight started and reached the destination on time. Those days not many international airlines used to provide Indian food, but Air India used to. With drinks you can have "Moong" mixture as CHAKHENA (snacks) instead of some drab, dry peanuts. Frankly I didn't have anything to complain about except dark, stout, short and pot bellied ugly Air Hostesses to oggle at !
But one particular incident stood out. My wife and I were checking in at Air India counter in the JFK Airport, New York. In an era when e-tickets were still fanatasy, we were holding on to our quintessential Air India paper ticket, its trademark red cover followed by couple of pages. A portly, chubby, bald headed Indian guy at the counter while weighing our luggages was flirting with a comely female coworker. The girl retorted back - "Did you forget I tied a Rakhee on your hand not long back" ? (Tying Rakhee is an emblem of sisterhood in India, in this context a smart endeavor by the girl to put a full stop to an obnoxious irritant).
The guy while handing us our boarding pass shied away his frustration - "BEHN**OD BOLTI HAI MEIN ISKI BHAI HOON (Sister slammer saying I am her brother). My wife and I, both heard it loud and clear. As we walked towards the security gate my newly married wife not exposed to typical slang of Delhi asked me innocuously - "What does it mean" ? I said - "It means he is from Delhi". Then gave her the simplest answer - "As Jai Maharastra" is to Mumbai, Oh' Calcutta to Kolkata, "Jai Jagannath" to Odisha, the word Behn**od (sister slammer) fits well to Delhi milieu.
During one of my earlier trips just before landing at the Delhi Airport came abruptly the voice of an exalted guy sitting close to me exclaiming to his buddy next row, "OI UTTH, BAIN**OD DILLI A GAYEE" (Get up, So and So the sister slammer, Delhi has arrived). More than the pilot, I found the teen's welcome far more enthusiast and the most appropriate way of welcoming to Delhi.
It was a grand standing Welcome, Punjabi/Delhi style, where a sentence can start with Bain**od (occasionally sounds as Pain**od, interspersed with a few liberal dosages of Bai**od and ends with Bai**od. It is how the self proclaimed Dill walle (Big Hearted) Dilli walle (Delhites) often greet each other. Same goes in the Punjab provinces of both India and Pakistan. When Sunil Gavaskar, a Maharashtrian, was batting in Lahore in 1978 in his first tour to the country, he was puzzled by some Pakistani players frequently uttering "Pain**od" which sounded like "Pant-Shirt" to Sunny bhai until his skipper Bishen Singh Bedi, a man from Punjab clarified to Sunny bhai what it meant, Punjabi style.
Bai**od" is not such a bad word in Delhi and Punjab. Apart from usual meaning, it can stand for multiple euphemisms, to describe a scene or situation. "Bai**od KYA THAND HAI YAAR" (My friend, it's so cold), Bai**od MEIN GIR JAUNGA Bai**od (I will fall down, spoken after sighting a pretty girl), Bai**od KYA MATCH THA (what a game it was) ! Friends hug each other, Aa GALE LAG JA OI Bai**od (give me a hug, my dear friend, you the sister slammer).
Air India might have flown a long way since the year 2000. From a colossal loss making entity used as a fiefdom of Netas (politcians) and Babus (Bureaucrats) It is now privatized. It's still the same old wine in New bottle. But BEHN**OD nothing much has changed - from New York's JFK to Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment