Delhi 2 Dubai: 1 Way Ticket

Delhi 2 Dubai: 1 Way Ticket

Tuesday 29 July 2008

Kamlayan Da Tabbar


In Punjabi Kamlayan Da Tabbar means a family of mad people!
Kamla: mad
Tabbar: khaandaan/kinship/family
It's a joke in the family.In fact our whole family is called that. The story goes back to my great granny (mother of my paternal grandmother). She died at the ripe age of 96 and was a permanent fixture at our home.
Being born in pre-independence Pakistan and having come to Delhi after living her life in the village she was quite a handful. She was widowed at a nascent age and so she lived her life with her only child: a daughter-my granny.
Watching the customs of Modern Delhi in the eighties/nineties she was shocked: or maybe that would be an understatement- She used to say to us(in colloquial Punjabi of course) "You all are mad. Put a placard out side your house with Kamlayan Da Tabbar printed on it."
I guess we took the curse as a blessing.

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