In January 2021 the Vyttila flyover in Kochi was ready. Onmanorama reported that “all civil works, including the load test, had been completed.” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was scheduled to inaugurate it on January 9.
On January 5, unidentified people threw the flyover open to traffic. That night the police arrested Nipun Cherian, a coordinator of the citizens’ group V4 Kochi, and three others. The group denied that it had opened the flyover. The Chief Minister inaugurated it on January 9.
Ji huzoor. Yes, sir. The Rekhta dictionary translates it as “Ok Sir.” It says the phrase is spoken in reply to someone’s words, either with respect or as flattery.
Ji huzoori means saying ji huzoor. Rekhta gives its English meanings as “flattery, highly obedient, sycophancy.”
PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. On this platform, the Prime Minister reviews large projects with officials. On December 31, 2025, Narendra Modi chaired the 50th PRAGATI meeting. It reviewed five projects costing more than 40,000 crore rupees. Since 2014, the platform has reviewed 377 projects.
The Arthashastra, the ancient treatise on statecraft attributed to Kautilya, sets rules for the king’s officers in Book 2, chapter 9. They are not to act without first bringing the matter to the knowledge of their master. In the English translation: “they shall undertake nothing except remedial measures against imminent dangers.”
On December 24, 1999, hijackers took over Indian Airlines flight IC-814 and brought it down at Amritsar. The plane stood there for about 45 minutes, according to Sarabjit Singh, then the head of the Punjab Police. Other accounts give 40 or 74 minutes. Then it took off again, and the hijackers flew on.
In Delhi, the government’s Crisis Management Group was deciding what to do. “No one was willing to take a decision and in that confusion no instructions were passed on to Punjab Police,” A.S. Dulat later said. According to ThePrint, officials in the Amritsar control room waited for instructions from Delhi that never came.
The Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure governs how files move in India’s ministries. Its phrases include “put up the file to Section Officer,” “orders of the appropriate authority may be obtained,” and “draft for approval.” The office manual of the Tea Board defines one more term: “‘Competent Authority’- The Chairman of the Board.”
On May 14, 2023, the newly elected Congress legislators in Karnataka met to choose their leader. They “passed a one-line resolution, moved by Siddaramaiah and endorsed by Shivakumar and other leaders at the meeting, authorising Kharge to name the new CM,” The Tribune reported. Mallikarjun Kharge was the party’s national president.
Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar were the two contenders for the post.
In Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Raj, played by Shah Rukh Khan, loves Simran, played by Kajol. Raj will not elope with her. He wants to win her father’s consent instead.
At the climax the father, Chaudhary Baldev Singh, played by Amrish Puri, lets his daughter go: Ja Simran ja, jee le apni zindagi. Go, Simran, go, live your life.
In India a side-to-side movement of the head often answers a question. Wikipedia’s article on the head bobble says that “most frequently it means yes, or is used to indicate understanding.” It can also take the place of a thank-you.
The meaning depends on context. “An unenthusiastic head bobble can be a polite way of declining something without saying no directly.”
In one of the Akbar and Birbal tales, Emperor Akbar’s pet parrot has died. No courtier dares to tell him, because he has ordered that anyone who brings news of the parrot’s death will be hanged. Birbal goes to the emperor and says: “Jahanpanah, your parrot is neither eating anything, nor drinking anything.”
When Akbar asks whether the parrot is dead, Birbal replies: “I did not say it. You said it.”