Adil Najam
This picture from Metroblog Lahore made me laugh out loud. One could think of some ATP commentators that we might want to say this to!
Given the type of comments recent posts have been recieving, the refrain written at the back of this rickshaw, or at least it’s first half, seems funnily appropriate. The Punjabi words at the back read: “SaRRya na kar, chanda, dua karya kar.” I don’t think justice can be done to this in translation, so I will not try. Maybe others could help.
Here at ATP, our fascination with the motor rickshaw goes long and deep, most recently in this post here, and in other forms of expressing “transport wisdom”!
But rickshaw wisdom is not something to be mocked at.
Two past posts, in particualr, come to mind. The first (from July 3, 2006) was a conversation with Karachi rickshaw driver Raees on Karachi’s political situation, where he outlines his 5-point manifestor for Karachi. The second (from February 2, 2007) was this slightly more tongue-in-cheek (and at some levels disturbing) ‘Man Manifesto’ on Haqooq-i-MardaaN.
I came across this one while travelling in Pune , written on a truck:-
Jinko jaldi thi …..wo chale gaye!!!
(means ppl who drove too fast to reach their destination , they reached to their ultimate destination(heaven))
Thanks bonobashi!
Dhipak is livid with his parents as it is… everyone emphasizes the H when the address him…
DHHHHeeepak, they all say…
@Nostalgic
Oooh, how I hate these superstition spreading pests and blood-suckers!
Please don’t fool around with this or palmistry or such gross blots on society and insults to reason.
Since you ask, the general idea is to assign numbers to the given person’s name and surname (name as given to society at large) and add them up in a particular way; so, Idiot is 9 + 4 + 9 + 15 + 20 = 57, and 57 is 5 + 7 = 12, and 12 is 1 + 2 = 3. Idiot finally is 3. This has to match the hatching day for Idiot, by doing a similar exercise with Idiot’s date of birth, so, January 1, 2000 is 1+1+2000=2002, which is 4. So the numbers don’t match, and Idiot then has to work it up to 4, by adding an ‘a’ somewhere, thus, Idiota. Now it’s fine, his breath smells sweet, he gets all the girls, he gets to score the winning six at Sharjah, and so on and so forth.
It makes me ill to contemplate this nonsense.
There are Bollywood idiots who have fiddled around with their names thanks to two prized asses who go around frightening people with the threat of unforeseen consequences if they don’t get this rubbish under control. Jeetendra’s daughter running Balaji Films (or some such thing) refuses to start any serial until the name can start with a ‘K’ (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi).
Please promise me you will have nothing to do with this nonsense once you’re out of school. Please also invite Dhipak to ghrow hup.
I have a South Indian friend (Tamil) called Dhipak… I asked him once why it wasn’t Dipak and he said numerology dictated that it be spelt that way… something to do with how it combined with his last name to add up to an auspicious number… maybe bonobashi you can fill in some details on this practice?
@Watan Aziz
I beg your pardon: sundar is exactly beautiful; with my uncomplicated mind, I thought the Bengali bit would do the trick.
Regarding sochaan and maujaan, you have some grief ahead. My position was put rather nicely by that great man, the bard of the ages, Anon:
With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air,
To the wilderness I wander.
By a knight of ghostes and shadowes
I summon’d am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wild world’s end.
Methinks it is no journey.
This is as exact a statement of my mental position as I can find. If you haven’t come across this before, look up Tom o’Bedlam. What else could you expect from a bonobashi?