Three Words

a Hindi/Urdu word for beautiful girl (hasina) rhymes with that for perspiration (pasina). Songwriters never used to take advantage of this -- their lyrics were generally high-flown and romantic -- but now they do. E.g., 'When I saw the beautiful girl I broke into a sweat.'

I love the Urdu word 'chilman' -- it's a pleasure to say it. It is a split bamboo or reed curtain. It has implications of concealing / revealing. It's a poem in a word.


Photograph by Ramesh Gandhi -- one of a series of photographs of chilman / chick blinds, which begins with pristine newness and ends with complete disintegration: here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, there are songs with both words combined. They go back 45 to 50 years. Shammi Kapoor, Johnny Walkerhave sung them in the movies.
Bhupen

Ramesh Gandhi said...

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

well" hasina ko aya pasina" doesnt sound romatic~~~sounds very unhygenic~~