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Bambaiya Hindi

Bambaiya Hindi, also Mumbaiyya is a slang form of Hindi/Urdu spoken primarily in Bombay (Mumbai). On the streets of Bombay, people from every part of India co-exist. Their inter-mingling has created a language that has Hindi/Urdu as a base, but includes words and pronunciations from other languages such as English, Marathi and Gujarati, as well as languages from South India (as evident from the use of the word 'Tambi', which is Tamil).

An example: Abe sale, kyon time ki khoti kar rela hai? Cut to cut baat karne ka, apne ko faltu bakbak karne ka aadat nahin hai. Jo kuch kehna hai, jaldi kar aur phoot le. Here, the Hindi/Urdu sentences have been studded with Marathi and some English.

Bambaiya Hindi may be objectionable to conservatives, but it can be argued that it has a rhythm, and pithiness of its own. The pithiness, incidentally, may come from the use of cliches and canned phrases such as 'cut to cut baat karne ka' (to speak concisely or briefly) and 'time ki khoti' (waste of time). The colourful phrases in Bambaiya Hindi also convey what is known as a 'street sensibility'and a sense of disdain for courtesies. Moreover, Bambaiya Hindi is not normally spoken by upper-middle class people. It is more associated with the marginal and/or poor young. It relates to mainstream Hindi the way Cockney relates to "proper" English. Incidentally, young, renegade and/or broody characters in Indian films often speak Bambaiyaa Hindi.

Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
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