The "Bhai" Phenomena

The world of NLU never fails to amaze me. The people, the places, our mysterious ways and life in general. Funny and weird things are part of our daily life. One of these which has recently caught my eye is the 'bhai' phenomena.Nope, we don't have a pan chewing, black kurta pyjama wearing and black sunglass wearing mafia in NLU. I am talking about the free and unfettered usage of the word, well you know it, 'bhai'.

Here's an example. One day three people were walking back from classes on the long winding road that runs through NLU. One of them is a lanky Ghazibadi Boy, a Hyderabadi Girl and a Mizo boy.They seem to be in the middle of a discussion which seems to quite engaging, and suddenly the girl exclaims, 'Bhai! what is he saying?". Well if you think it's a very North Indian phrase, well, Surprise Surprise!!

Yep, the girl who spent her entire life in Hyderabad in a very South Indian household, and who until she joined NLU was Hindi illiterate (well look forward to a very entertaining post on the North Indianization of Sneha G Sindhu) has just used the very popular NLU word.

The word 'bhai' is generally the shortened form of 'Bhaiyya' which means brother. However in NLU it is used to persuade, as form of exclamation, to express joy or anger, and sometimes used 'just for the sake of it' It is often used as a very desi substitute for 'dude'.

A bunch of girls sitting in Cool Palace also often punctuate their conversation about Gucci shoes and Fendi bags with a well placed Bhai! Well they also refer to eachother as bhai. Yeah, I have a very close friend of mine who keeps saying 'bhai' all the time!

When I went home this winter I was talking to my very Hyderabadi cousin, and my grandmom was nearby. And so I said, "Bhai, what nonsense blah blah blah...."

My grandmom froze! She could not believe her ears! She promptly walked upto me and said "Sena don't speak like an auto driver!"

 Sadly it's true......in Hyderabad its mostly the auto drivers who use bhai. So if you ask to go to Badi Chowdi, expect to hear a "Bhai, mai to nai jaathu....vahanpe is time pe bahut traffic hai!"

After that I spent a precious half an hour explaining to my gran that its weird and unladylike thing in Jodhpur! Yes, she did say that oneday I'll end up speaking like a truck driver!!

Hence in NLU if you are a Delhite, or a Punjabi, someone from Chennai, or from the Northeast you will end up picking up the 'bhai' culture in your 5 years of stay here.

To finish off, as Saumi and I always say

"We are the Bhai, we are the bhai!"

P.S. thanks Lohitash for the idea!!