The Coffee House Adda

Adda is the Bengali word for long conversation among friends. The historian Dipesh Chakrabarty, in his essay “Adda, Calcutta: Dwelling in Modernity,” describes it as “the practice of friends getting together for long, informal and unrigorous conversations.”

In 1983 Manna Dey released the song “Coffee Houser Sei Addata,” about the adda at the Coffee House on College Street in Kolkata. Gauriprasanna Mazumdar wrote the words and Suparna Kanti Ghosh the music. The song remembers seven friends who met there. In a 2006 BBC Bangla poll, listeners ranked it fourth among the greatest Bengali songs.

Half a Day’s Leave

On November 21, 2014, the Department of Personnel and Training ordered an Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system for all central government offices. Offices in Delhi had until December 31, 2014. Offices elsewhere had until January 26, 2015.

Each late arrival would cost half a day of casual leave. Lateness of up to an hour, twice a month and for good reason, could be excused. A further order in June 2015 stated: “Habitual late attendance is viewed as conduct unbecoming of a Government servant.”

Before Rahu Kaala

On March 6, 2026, Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the state budget at 10:15 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. Rahu Kaala, a daily period of about ninety minutes that many regard as inauspicious, began at 10:30 that day.

He later said that his family and officials had advised him to avoid it. “I didn’t want to disappoint them or hurt their feelings,” he said. “This is the first time in my political career that I did so.” He added that he still does not believe in good or bad times.

Link by June 30

In 2017 the Indian government required taxpayers to link their PAN, the tax identity number, with Aadhaar, the national identity number. The deadlines in 2017 were July 31, August 31 and December 31. Then came March 31, 2018, and more dates after it. In 2021 the fact-checking site BoomLive called the latest move “the 11th such extension.”

In March 2023 the deadline moved once more, from March 31 to June 30, 2023. From July 1, 2023, the PAN of a taxpayer who had not linked it was to become inoperative.

Date After Date

Tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh, tareekh pe tareekh milti rahi hai, My Lord, lekin insaaf nahin mila. Date after date, date after date, date after date we were given, My Lord, but no justice. Sunny Deol says it as a lawyer in the courtroom scene of Damini (1993), directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

Since July 2002, the Code of Civil Procedure has limited adjournments to three for each party during the hearing of a suit. The same rule, Order XVII, Rule 1, lets the court grant time “if sufficient cause is shown.”

Jugaad

In rural Punjab, a jugaad is a vehicle built from what is at hand. One kind bolts a farm trailer to a diesel engine of the kind that drives water pumps. Another, in Moga, fixes a 10 horsepower irrigation pump engine to the front of a wooden cart. It carries about 40 people.

The word means a workaround. In 2017 the Oxford English Dictionary added it: “A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way.”

The Auspicious Hour

On December 13, 2018, K. Chandrasekhar Rao was sworn in as chief minister of Telangana at 1:25 in the afternoon. Priests of the Yadadri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple had fixed the time. “The auspicious period will continue for another one-and-a-half hour,” the head priest said.

Earlier that year Rao had dissolved the state assembly at a time given by priests of the Sringeri Mutt.

understand-culture
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance (opens in a new tab)
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.