Tarquin Hall: The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing

POHA a breakfast dish made from flattened rice traditionally cooked with peanuts, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

POORI puffy wheat bread deep fried in oil.

PRANAYAMA a yoga term meaning learning to control the breath.

RISHI a poet-sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed; credited also as a divine scribe. According to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a seer or shaman to whom the Vedas were originally revealed through states of higher consciousness.

ROOK! stop!

SAALA slang. An expression of disgust.

SADHU a holy man who has renounced the material world to devote himself to spiritual practice. He wanders from place to place and owns nothing. A female sadhu is a sadhvi.

PRASAD offerings of fruit or sweetmeats sanctified in front of deities during prayer and then passed out to devotees to consume as blessings.

PUJA a prayer.

PUKKA Hindi word meaning solid, well made. Also means definitely.

PUNGI also called a ‘been.’ A wind instrument played by snake charmers in India.

RAJA a king.

RAJMA red kidney beans cooked with onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and spices. A much-loved Punjabi dish eaten with basmati rice.

SAHIB an Urdu honorific now used across South Asia as a term of respect, equivalent to the English ‘sir.’

SAMADHI a higher level of concentrated meditation.

SAMBAR a South Indian spicy and sour lentil dish.

SANTOOR an Indian trapezoid-shaped hammer dulcimer.

SANYASI a Hindu who has renounced all his material possessions and adopted the life of begging for survival.

SARDAR a male follower of the Sikh religion wearing a turban.

SHERWANI a long coat-like garment worn in South Asia, very similar to a doublet.

SHLOKA a Hindu prayer or hymn that is chanted or sung.

SINDOOR a red powder used by married Hindu women and some Sikh women. During the marriage ceremony, the groom applies some to the parting of the bride’s hair to show that she is now a married woman. Subsequently, sindoor is applied by the wife as part of her dressing routine.

TANDOOR a cylindrical clay oven used to bake breads and meats.

TILAK a red mark on the forehead usually applied after aarti.

TOPI a hat.

TULLI Punjabi slang for drunk.

UBTAN a powerful exfoliating and clarifying all-body scrub used by brides-to-be. Generally contains gram flour, turmeric, sandalwood powder and rose water. It is spread on the body and then scrubbed off with jasmine oil.

UPMA a South Indian breakfast dish made with cream of wheat (semolina), peanuts, spices, curry leaves and mustard seeds.

TARRA a cheap country-made booze.

TAVA a large, flat or slightly concave disk-shaped griddle made from cast iron, steel or aluminum used to prepare several kinds of flat breads.

TEEN PATTI / TEEN PATTA an Indian card game also known as Flush. Usually played during holidays, it is a betting game in which the player with the best hand (three aces or three consecutive cards of the same suit) wins the pot.

THALI a round steel or brass platter with small bowls traditionally used to serve a large meal.

VIBHUTI sacred ash.

WALLAH a generic term in Hindi meaning ‘the one’ or ‘he who does.’ Hence auto-wallah, pankah (fan)-wallah, chai-wallah, etc.

YAAR equivalent to pal, mate or dude.

For a glossary of unfamiliar terms, see page Glossary.