While driving back from work tonight, I took a trip down the memory lane. The trip took me back 24 years where I saw a guy named Iftikhar and it made me laugh out loud. Iftikhar was the muffakir (intellectual) and the mascot of our street cricket team. He was especially gifted in coming up with on-the-spot terminologies and one such master piece creation was the word tatoli.
This word does not exist in any language but those who understand Urdu can relate to it from the word tatol. Therefore simply put, a cricketer who fumbles (tatol) a lot is called a tatoli. To understand the concept more see this 29 second video clip.
For those who still didn’t get it, you can imagine a person in a dark room. May be close your eyes to imagine this situation and then open them after 5 seconds so that you can read this post further. If this person has to move in a dark room from one corner to the other then how will he do that? He will of-course do that by fumbling (tatol tatol kar) with the articles in the room with his hands. I hope now you understand the meaning of word tatol.
In Iftikhar’s cricket terminology a tatoli was the person who habitually tatoled. Just like Rana Naved does in the video clip above. He is doing a classical tatol tatol kar fielding karna.
Good old days!
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Ah…good one. I guess every mohala had certain term for certain things. Our gang used to call a misfield makhan (butterfinger in English), chooru, murgi pakar raha hai?, well…other are kinda not suitable for this board.
At any rate, your post reminds me of times in our mohala where everybody used to have a unique name according to their character. For instance, a person who talks a lot of BS would be more popular by the name Chooru than his original name. Similarly, a person whose dad had a biryani restaurant was knows as Biryani. Other popular names were Tori, Raiz Gari (no idea how it started), Washmallay, Bhikari, Chakka (I am sure we all had one of those friends), Momin etc etc.
I was popular as Laal Gari since no one else had a red car in our area :) Good old days.
Naan Haleem, your comment made me smile :) takna la lo ji!
Once i had a classmate in Central Model High School (Lower Mall) Lahore. I dont remember his name now but i still remember his innocent face. He belonged to some village between Muridke and Sheikhupura near Chichuki Malian. This “Tatoli” thing reminded me that he had a unique way of saying the word TECHNOLOGY. Keeping his Punjabi background in mind, one should not be amazed to learn that he used to say “Taknalalogy”. Those readers who can read it in a punjabi accent and can understand that in Punjabi would know that this word is a request to cap something (put the cap or lid of something on). pretty amusing memory of schooldays
Nice one. I guess all Pakistani politicians are TATOLI!
Nice one. That video is hillarious.