BIHARI BOLI

LE BALAIYA, ee ka hua? Kahe albalaye huye hain? Etna narbhasane se Kuchchho nahin hoga (Omigosh, what's this? Why are you so flustered? Such nervousness won't help matters.

The inveterate linguist may scream at such an apparent contamination of Hindi language but the average Bihari simply loves to throw all narrow parameters of grammar to the winds. For them, the funnier they are, the better their adaptability is into their inimitable lingua franca. Over the years, Biharis have invented a language, which has an Unmistakable stamp of their own. In recent times, its popularity has travelled far and wide beyond the borders of the State and many screen heroes, including Amitabh Bachchan, have mouthed Bihari cliches with characteristic élan- a far cry from the days when it was thought to be an infra dig of sorts for anybody other than country bumpkins and unscrupulous politicians to perpetrate such "verbal atrocities". All that,however, is passé now. Bihari Boli is sweeter than honey now not only in Bollywood but also on the campuses of prestigious universities and IITs across the country.Words like harbaraye, garbaraye,bargalaye,thartharaye and dhanmanaye which would have sounded Greek to outsiders earlier are being used with gay abandon by the hep youngsters there.Sobriquets laced with double entendres like "garda", bawaal and dhuan denoting the varying degree of a girl's beauty and sex appeal can be heard not only in Patna University colleges but also faraway Fergusson College in Pune. Moreover, a-go, dugo, teengo and chaartho type of numerology which was a matter of disdain not long ago is being accepted even by the stiff upper-lips without any qualms. So, notes sarka do(pass on the notes)","batti buta do (put out the lights)", Principal ko harka do(bamboozle the principal), burbak
kahin ka (you stupid fellow!),humto biga gaye(I was thrown out)and Hum to huan thebe kiye the (I was very much there)are some of the expressions which have conveniently made their way into the otherwise prim-and-propah St Stephens, New Delhi. Similarly,coinages like dhakiyaye (shoved), mukiyaye(punched), and latiyaye(kicked) are the current rage. Hiyan (here),huan(there),kahe(why), enne (this way) and onne (that way) are someof other typical words,which are spoken rather nonchalantly by so-called educated lot in the State. One, therefore, does not get surprised if one hears tanikke for little, nimman for good, anhar for darkness and ejor for lights. For them, colloquial language need not be tied to any narrow rules. E topicwa par maatha khapane se kuchchho nahi hoga (nothing is tocome out of this topic),as one wit commented. Among many characteristics of this language are its terms of endearment.Seldom does one hear people on the streets calling each other by their real names. Raju automatically becomes Rajua,Pappu turns into Pappua, "Manish" to "Manishwa", Rajesh into Rajeshwa and Shatrughna at best Satrohna. This potpourri of all Bihari dialects has also coined new terms for human anatomy which would baffle an FRCP if he were to land here straight from Edinburgh.Here gor means legs, moori is substitute to head, ongree is equivalent to finger, thor denotes lips and kapar is synonymous with forehead. This language also has more onomatopoeic words that probably any other. Words like tapak se, gapak se, and japak se can be understood by listening to their phonetical sounds. No longer is Bihari language associated with a few howlers like eskool (school)",teeshan(station) and singal (signal)only. There are certain
words which carry the precise meaning but Which cannot be properly substituted by any word in other languages. Machchar bhambhor liya is probably is one such example. Bhambhorna is a super word, which means the collective assault of mosquitoes to "bhambhor" you. But then, one might argue, where else do you find somany mosquitoes to bhambhor you. Right from Laloo Prasad Yadav, whoemerges as the best speaker of his ghar ki boli to Shekhar Suman, everybody loves to flaunt his native command of the language. Earlier, Biharis were notorious for atrocious gender sense and shoddypronunciation. Now, the same traits have become the tour de force of their conversation. The time has certainly come to raise ekadhgo (one or two) toast to the longevity of the Biharilanguage. "Teengo" cheers to that!