Monday, July 19, 2010

For the Tulika Blogathon 4

The two rhymes that follow are from my husband's community, and are in Derewali, the language spoken in Dera Ismail Khan, across the Indus, part of what was formerly known as the North West Frontier Province.

Dangda hai vanh dangda hey
Maamey di dhee mangda hey
Maama dhee nis denda
Chacha sath karenda
Chachey di dhee kaanhi
Te ghinsi lal Pathaani

The boy jumps and jumps
Asking for his Maama's daughter
But Maama doesn't give his daughter
Chacha offers his
But she is blind in one eye
So he will get a red cheeked Pathan girl.


ABC
kitthey gayee see
Headmaster mar gaya
Pittan gayee see

ABC
Where have you been
The headmaster's dead
I went to mourn.

Tulika blogathon:http://tulikapublishers.blogspot.com/2010/06/blogathon-4-rhymes-chants-and.html

9 comments:

Sue said...

LOL Especially at the first. I love this blogathon. Am wondering who to ask for a Santhali rhyme. Baba should know some but whether he remembers the whole thing is a matter of doubt.

Arundhati said...

Oh I know the second one from my toddler days :) Thankfully didn't understand it then. Thanks for bringing back memories

It is fun to read rhymes in alien languages and imagine how they would sound

The Soul of Alec Smart said...

Heh.. what a memory refresher this is! I remember the second one distinctly :) The first one, though, my mother remembers!

One thing about Punjabi rhymes is the straightforwardness or the lack of sugar-coating.. don't know what else to call it.. that's very funny, like "Pittan gayi see"!! :D

Choxbox said...

Awesome. LOL@ 2nd one!

Indian Home Maker said...

Rhymes say so much about a culture!!! A kanee is unwelcome and the red cheeked is special?

:)

Unknown said...

Love the second one - so succinct and direct . No hanky panky but no 1 definitely has more overtones . Most of these rhymes have .

starry eyed said...

Gosh! And we talk abt the scary stuff in English rhymes...headmaster mar gaya?!!

Thanks for sharing these!

Banno said...

Wow. Lovely rhymes. So full of fun. I'm sure they are sung, no? Would be so nice to hear that.

Natasha said...

Coincidence, my husband's family is Dheravali too- only none in either my husband's generation or even in my father in law's generation actually do.

The second seems a variant of ABC tumble down D, the cat's in the cupboard, can't see me.