Kachha Dhaaga Options

[unni]

Ab se main apney postings/uploads sirf is "dhaagey' mein karoonga. Mein nahin chahta kay meri wajeh se koi kisi-bhi-tareh ki taqleef mehsoos karein.

After singing-star Suraiyya's recent demise Lata-ji paid a lovely tribute to her, during which she recollected a song-recording with her and "another singer". Suraiyya-ji was then a bubbling spirit and started giggling, which got Lata-ji also into a 'giglacious" mood and it went on to become a giggling spree. Apparently the "other singer" was not amused and complained that she (Suraiyya-ji) was disturbing his singing.

I can imagine a conscientious Rafi-sahab at the recording-studio, seriously humming the lines and rehearsing for the recording, only to be interrupted time and again by high-pitched giggles from his two female co-singers.

My guess is it was at the recording of "Bheegi palkein ootha".

And I wouldn't blame him for thinking of them by the name of the film they were recording for: "DO GUNDE"!

[unni]

Myawan-ji:

I was fully expecting someone to ask about the peculiar way I spell Hindi/Urdu words when I write them in English.

English is notorious for not being a phonetic language. In Hindi, the word is pronounced as it is spelt, but not necessarily in English. Also, there are no rules in the matter of writing Hindi/Urdu words in English; it is based only on convention. And the Hindi film industry has devised it's own manner of English spelling of Hindi/Urdu words.

When I write Hindi/Urdu words in English, I spell it in a manner that if an English-reader were to pronounce it, it should sound as close as possible to the original.

Take for example the word you cited. English does not have an equivalent for the first letter, and the closest approximation of the sound would be "th". To a person not familiar with Hindi/Urdu, "tum" rhymes with "sum". Instead, I use the double "o". Hence "thoom" in place of "tum".

A movie title "Tere Mere Sapne" --- how would a foreigner pronounce it? There is an English word "mere" which is pronounced differently from the Hindi/Urdu word represented. So "tere" would rhyme with "mere". Pronounced in the correct English way, these words would sound totally different from what was intended! Instead, I would spell it as "Thayray Mayray Supnay".

Of course, the British and the Americans have a problem with even an easy word "Punjab" --- they pronounce it as 'poon-jab"!

An Urdu-speaking friend of mine could not identify it when I pronounced the word "naat" as spelt in English. It is not "naat" with a strong "t" at the end, nor is it "naad"; more correctly it is "naath" (without expirating the "h"), a sound between "t" and "d". I realized it only when I looked up an Urdu/English dictionary.

Phew! Phonetics!

Cheers --- Unni