Glossary

Adivasi – the indigenous tribal people of India. Literally, aboriginal – and proud to be so. Mostly living in remote rural areas, but increasingly also present in the cities, mostly but not all in poverty. Outside the caste system altogether, but often very badly treated by rich or high caste Hindus.

Ayah – mother. Well that’s what it means to an ordinary Indian, but so far as British children growing up in India during the British Raj were concerned (or nowadays, many posh Indian children), their mother was Mother, and the Indian lady who looked after them was their Ayah. (Ayah is also the past tense of to come, but that’s just an example of a homonym.)

Chhoti – small or little, or little one (feminine). A common nickname for small girls, less common for a woman.

Chhotu – a common nickname for small boys. Related to Chhota, small, or little one (masculine).

Dalit – lower caste, formerly translated into English as untouchable, and often treated like that by high caste Indians. Also called Harijan (God’s People), a term coined by Mahatma Gandhi in an attempt to counter widespread prejudice against them.

Dhobi – laundryman.

Jhaggi – a tiny dwelling constructed mainly out of materials scavenged from other people’s rubbish. A jhaggi dweller can only dream of the luxury of living in a proper slum.

Kaamwali – a female worker, often meaning a domestic servant.

Mala – a necklace of flowers, essentially a daisy chain but with bigger, showier flowers.

Naxalite – armed revolutionary, a follower of Naxalism. Named after Naxalbari, the village in West Bengal where the movement began. Generally opposed to the oppression of the rural poor by the Indian élite, but much more complicated than that in practice.

Puja – a Hindu religious ritual, a bit like a Catholic lighting a candle and saying a little prayer.

Puri – a bit like a chapatti, but usually smaller in diameter and thicker, and made with vegetable oil (or ghee, if you’re wealthy) rather than just water.

Sabji – vegetables, either curried or uncooked. In other parts of India, this might be called Sabzi.

Sabziwala (or sabjiwallah) – provider of vegetable curry.

Salwar kameej – sometimes called a Panjabi suit. Salwar is a pair of loose fitting ladies’ trousers, and kameej (kameez in some parts of India) is a shift worn over them. I’ve heard it said that kameej is the same word as the French word chemise, both from Latin camisia.

Sarpanch – elected village headman, roughly speaking.

Shudh Hindi – ‘pure’ Hindi. The Hindi equivalent of the Queen’s English.

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