Wednesday 18 May 2011

The Feminine Mustaches


I put in 36 years of service in my Bank before superannuating. Out of that period, I served in my Home State for 8 years and the rest of the period was spent in other States in India. Of those 28 years, 16 sweet and eventful years were spent in Bihar, 7 years in places which later became a part of Jharkhand State which was carved out Bihar.

When I was posted to Patna to open and head my Bank’s Regional Staff Training College there, the first problem that I faced was language. Although I had worked in U P earlier, my knowledge of Hindi was not sufficient. Training Programmes for Officers were conducted in English but Hindi was to be used in Training of Workmen employees. While trying to speak in Hindi, I always fumbled when it came to gender.(In fact, I don't fumble; I stumble and fall flat, face down, with a smashed nose!) Unlike in most other languages, verbs in a sentence in Hindi change according to the gender of the ‘subject’. So I used to receive amusing look when I asked, ”Gadi kab ayega?” (When will the train arrive?) The correct way to say this is “Gadi kab ayegi? That is because gadi is feminine in Hindi. In English, both boy and girl ‘goes’ , but in Hindi, ‘ladka jata hai.’ but ‘ladki jati hai’. When a man wants to go, he says, “main ja raha hun”, but when a woman wants to go, she has to say, “main ja rahi hun.” In many other Indian languages, the gender of the adjective is determined by the gender of the noun that it qualifies but in Hindi both the adjective and the verb change according to the gender of the noun.

What saved me was that in the Training College, Hindi Training Programmes were being conducted by the Bank’s Hindi Officer and other Guest Faculty. As far as possible, I used to attend these Programmes. These Programmes were not for teaching Hindi language as such but for imparting to the employees, a Working Knowledge of Banking in Hindi. So I could not still decipher the intricacies of gender in Hindi. All the nouns in Hindi are of either masculine or feminine gender. If I am not mistaken, there is no neuter gender in Hindi. 

Once I asked the Bank’s Hindi Officer to tell me an easy way to know the gender of a noun. He told me, “You always remember one simple formula. You know another name of Goddess Durga is Shakti. Goddess Durga is female. Shakti means power. Remember that whichever noun denotes power, that word is feminine! Simple.” So ‘gadi’ and ‘police’ are feminine. Adalat (Court) is feminine. And ‘Sajaa’ (punishment) also is feminine for the same reason.

Then I reasoned out why ‘muchhe’ (mustaches) is feminine!!!

(And is that the real reason why the word ‘patni’ (wife) is feminine?:))) .


Ever since, while speaking in Hindi, I try to remind me this lesson.
TAIL PIECE

The shakti test applies as a general rule and is not a universal one. In some places,it is said, "dahi khata hota hai" and in some other places, the same expression is spoken as ‘dahi khati hoti hai’ . So you cannot escape slipping !!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Q. What is the other name of 'woman'?
    A. Shakti

   Q. What is the other name of 'man'?
   A. Sahan Shakti (Endurance).

20 comments:

  1. Genders play an important role in many languages. My mother was learning German and she had said that the words do change in it as well. My wife is from Delhi and my Hindi (though we speak Hindi at home since a few generations) is slightly impacted by the local language (Marathi). So we do have debates on the gender usage in Hindi on a few words. And you know who finally wins the debate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sudeep

    1.You know in any debate, the winner is the person who has more 'shakti'!

    2. Is it that in Hindi 'ankh'(eye) is masculine gender and 'netra' is feminine? Or is it the other way around? If you are not sure, ask the person who has more 'shakti'.:)))))

    ReplyDelete
  3. :)

    Aankh is feminine according to me. "Maine aankh band ki" or "Aankhein gili thi". I am not sure on netra as I hardly remember using it or forming a sentence out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "netra" is a sanskrit word and unlike hindi, sanskrit has three genders i.e masculine, feminine, neuter. netra = eyes is neuter gender

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting discussion going on here... :)

    When the word 'netra' is used in a Hindi sentence, it looks like it's masculine? E.g. Shankar Bhagwan ka teesra netra khul gaya.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gender mistakes in Hindi are fine compared to what I hear on various TV channels, typically Pakistani: "Hamnay ko karnaa hai..."

    ReplyDelete
  7. the.orchestra.of.life

    Should one say in Hindi, "mera netra khul gaya" or "meri netra khul gayi" ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Arun,

    In unguarded moments,'achha ladki' escapes from my lips and Sayesha is ever vigilant to catch me!:)))))

    2.Why do people address girls as 'beta' to show their affection?

    ReplyDelete
  9. In hindi, I would say .. "mere netra khul gaye" if we are talking about both the eyes (bahuvachan) but if we are talking about one of the eyes (ekvachan) then it is more like .. "shivji ka teesra netra khul gaya"

    It might not be very correct to use netra in Hindi language since the word is from another language i.e. Sanskrit. It would be like using a noun from German (German language also has 3 gender) but applying the constraints of Hindi grammar to use it in a Hindi sentence.

    e.g. "meri Bein tut gayi". Bein (ger) = taang (hin) = leg (eng). Bein is actually neuter gender in German but we used feminine gender to use it in a Hindi sentence :)

    But since Hindi and Sanskrit are very close to each other we often mix words from both of them. Just like we mix many words unknowingly from Farsi in everyday spoken Hindi :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. the.orchestra.of.life

    1. good information.

    2.How do you feel about addressing a girl as 'beta'? Doesn't it indicate the craving for a male child over a female one? No one addresses a boy as 'beti' to show affection!!!!!!!!!!!!

    A girl doesn't mind being addressed as 'beta'. Will a boy relish being addressed as 'beti'?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I used to think that calling a girl 'beta' was only a North India thing until I noticed my mom calling her nieces, and now her daughter in law as well, beta. Even my grandfather did. I link this to an attempt to not to discriminate between the genders as (historically) beta has more weightage in Indian households so addressing beti as beta gives her an equal weightage (at least in addressing?). Though beta could be a generalized thing like all religions can be addressed as Hindus (as residents of Hindustan), but surely Hindus won't be open to being addressed as a different religion. A far-fetched comparison, maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. By the way, thanks to T.O.O.L for the Sanskrit info.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well ... that's a tough and a complicated question to answer. And it has more to do with Indian culture and human psychology than linguistics :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I see, so "beta" mein shakti hai?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear all,

    Will not addressing both boys and girls as 'beti' equally show equal treatment? :)))))))))))))

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. the.orchestra.of.life

    I read your blog-post on the subject.
    Yes, some questions have no easy answer and better remain unanswered!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dropped by to say congrats on the birth of grandchildren.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you, Sudeep.

    One beta, one beti. The debate is balanced!:))))

    ReplyDelete