Interesting Indian Idioms

Interesting Indian Idioms

On Eating.

Says an Indian proverb or aphorism ‘eat to live, not live to eat.(Jeene ke liye khao, khane ke liye mat jio.) Proverbs are the facts that reveal the truth we can realize what is going on. We see everywhere everyone is living to eat. It is amusing that they are not eating only eatable, but eating ‘not eatable’ things too. Usually some government, central or provincial, officers and employees are being known as ‘excess eating person’ The people usually say ‘Bahut khat hai yar.’  Here khata is not not meant ‘eats’ eatable. Eats denotes that eats ‘money,’ without ‘extra money’ he dose not perform his duties for which he is being taken salary accordingly.

India is a country based on agriculture, specified to produce grains eatable. Bharat ek krishipradhan desh hai. Indian government has made lots of  ‘go-downs’ under food corporation of  India ((FCI)  where all the produced eatable grains are preserved. It doesn’t matter that most of which is being wasted and  rotten in absence of proper care. The most entertaining thing is this  that the big part of its voting population is still hungry and collecting food from dustbins.

Who is eating their food, their eatables? Who knows?

As we have discussed above that un-eatable is being eaten by government employees and ministry-men. News nowadays coming that there are several ministers  pushed into jail for unjustified eating.  They ate chara or ghas (grass), ate coal, lands, machines etc. Think, they have eaten un-eatables. So India should not only known as an agricultural country, it must be known as ‘an eating country, which can eat every thing eatable or uneatable.

Thus we see, India is most sensitive about eating as it is a country of agriculture. What agriculture land is producing for man is also being eaten by pets and unwanted animals, insects, birds etc.. The grains are abstracted and the rest part of a crop is left to be fed to pet animals like cows, bulls and buffaloes. 

Many parts of land is also left to grow grass for animals.  India shown that it does not has any difference between man and animal. As animal can eat the eatables meant for men, the men can also eat the grass or the chara.  They use to say about an idiot person that his or her wisdom is gone to eat grass.( Aql chara charne gayi.)

Many and many proverbs and idioms are there about eating or on eating. Some of the idioms can make you refreshed as you ‘ate’ some rich refreshment.

Let’s take some uneatable things those have been used in Indian idioms. An Indian can eat oath(qasam khana) as well as a person.(aadmi or khasam  khana). In punjabi they use an abuse khasman nu khani. An Indian can eat sandles or shoes. In an Indian film millennium star Amitabh Bachchan is asked by his co-actress Farida Jalal whether to eat shoes. (Jute khaiyega kya?)  As murgh musallam (spicy-cock) is eaten by rich non-vegetarians, poor persons are use to eat sorrows.(gham khana). An Indian government is also blamed by opposition along-with the people of India that the government has sold the nation and ate it.( sarkar desh bechkar kha gai.) Anything in India can be eaten. The eat gaali (abuses) as they eat goli (bullets in battles and tablets in illness.)

If they are fond of eating  tambakoo (tobacco), they are also devoted eater of chugli (backbiting). They culturally eat  paan or tambul (beetles). Their folk song is ‘paan khaye saiyan hamaro’ ( my husband eat beetles.) The most powerful function is Rishvat khana ( eating  means taking bribes.)

Taao khana (being irritated) is their another favourite attitude. Similarly bhao khana (showing attitude) is their most natural behaviour. In this way they enhance their prices, value, cost etc. Bhao is being used as the price of any marketable thing or place. Allo kya bhao diye? (what is the price of potato per kg.) That is also concerned with the price of person also. Uske to bade bhao hain yaar.(he is very  prominent or popular.) woh to  bade bhao khata hai or uske to aajkal bhao badh gaye hain.( he shows attitudes or he is nowadays became arrogant)

Idioms on eating have a wide spectrum. Let’s conclude with a ‘classified study’ of the different types of idioms based on khana that is eating.

We can classify the idioms in three sectors. Veg, Nonveg and Mixed veg-nonveg.

Veg idioms are - paapad belna, chatni peesana, aaloo chheelna, khichdi pakaana, daal galna, daal galaana, daal na galna, namak mirch lagaana, achaar daalna, roti senkna, bhurta banana, daana dalna, chaara daalna, etc. 

Non veg idioms : murgha banana, bakra halal karna, gala / gardan katna, machhli marna, machhali phansna, kaleja / dil nikaalna, boti boti karna, bheja / dimag / jaan khana etc.

Mixed – Veg-Non veg idioms : ghar ki murgi daal baraabar, roti beti / boti ka rishtaa hona, etc.

Thinking this may make you a little refreshed. If digested please have some more afterward.

Dated : 5,6,7,8,9.10.13

Dr. R.Ramkumar,

Associate Professor,

Govt. PG College,

Balaghat. MP.