Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Cool words on the campus

`Kadalai masters', `apeet', `dissum'... enter any college in Pondicherry and you will know what these words mean, says Deepa H Ramakrishnan

FUN WITH WORDS College goers have their own lingo Photo: T. Singaravelou

Did you propose to your girl or man on Valentine's Day? Could you have done it in a single word? Yes, students of colleges in Pondicherry could have. They coined two words just for the purpose - `sarangi' if a boy wants to propose to a girl and `dissum' if a girl wants to propose — and they did through SMS.

Do you know what guys who talk to girls for a long time are called - `kadalai masters'? If a boy talks to a girl it means he is `batting' and if a girl sustains the conversation she is a `good bowler'.

Like rickshaw men and auto drivers, the residents of Pondicherry, especially the students have their own lingua franca. They try to cut down the usage of words to the minimum. There are books on Mumbai's slang words and websites on Madras baashai. How about a compilation of Pondicherry's unique student lingo? So, here's an attempt to record a few words for a yet-to-be-born dictionary.

Since the colleges have a cosmopolitan mix of students, who come from different regions, each has their own expression for every situation. According to the Mallus, the short-tempered are `kaalan mathaayis'. "Kaalan Mattaayi is a popular film character, who would lose temper at the drop of a hat," said a Malayalam-speaking student as the rest of his friends went for a `aathmaavina poga kudukaan' (for some smoke to the soul). After the "poga" session, it was time for `vaai nokkal' (looking at the beauties passing by).

For many others, `vaai nokkal' is `eye tonic'! When they sit together the favourite topics are girls, internal politics and sports. "We used to have a lot of slang words in Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai, where I studied earlier. We used to have chat sessions at the `katta', the teashop was called `tapir' and half a cup of tea `cutting' and the policemen were `maamoos'. Of course cutting here has a different meaning," says Kumar, doing his first year M.Sc Biotechnology in the Pondicherry University.

"In each class there are two types of students, the FBAs (Front Benchers Association) and the BBAs (Back Benchers Association). Hostellers are mostly BBAs as they walk in late despite being within the campus, said a bunch of engineering students. They like to hang out near the canteen and also at a post near the library.

"Though we are away from our families, hostel life is a lot of fun. We have many friends and usually move in a group. When someone takes extra classes or is always poring over books, we call them `padips guys'," say Arun Kiran and Krishna Karthik from the Pondicherry Engineering College.

In the evening, most of the college boys can be seen hanging around near the open-air theatre, vrooming on their bikes and trying to impress the girls walking past. And when it is time to go back to the hostel for food, they call each other saying, "gadi thinnam ra," (come to eat grass).

The girls of Government Bharatidasan College for Women, though studying in a disciplined atmosphere love to speak in the campus lingo. The mostly commonly used words are `oothikichu' and `theraadhu'. When all of them decide not to attend class it is `mass bunk', `group escape' and `apeet'. "Come on, we need to sound different when in the peer group. It helps us relate to each other better. Of course, it's a lot of fun too," chorused Niranjini, Anita, and Revathi.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail