一日为师，终身为父 Teacher for a day, father for life. An old saying: whoever was one’s master even for a day deserves lifelong respect as a father. It appears in a Yuan play by Guan Hanqing.
老乡 A person from the same home region.
战友 A comrade-in-arms. Someone who fought side by side with one.
In the first chapter of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei burn incense in a peach garden and swear an oath. “Though we are of different surnames, now that we are brothers we will join hearts and strength. We do not ask to be born in the same year, month and day. We only wish to die in the same year, month and day.”
The oath ends: “If one betrays righteousness and forgets kindness, may Heaven and men together destroy him.” The official history of the period records that Liu Bei shared a bed with the two men and that their bond was “like that of brothers.” The words of the oath come from the novel.
“Dosti ka ek usool hai madam: no sorry, no thank you.” Friendship has one rule, madam: no sorry, no thank you. The line comes from the Hindi film Maine Pyar Kiya. The Quint lists it among the best-known dialogues of Salman Khan, who starred in the film.
Ghar ka aadmi. A man of the house. The Rekhta dictionary gives “member of one’s family, family friend.” Its Hindi entry extends the meaning to relatives, a personal servant and an acquaintance.
Ghar ki baat. A matter of the house. Rekhta gives in Hindi a secret of the house, a matter between ourselves, a private matter.
Langotiya yaar. A loincloth friend. Rekhta gives “an old friend (from childhood), a very intimate friend, a playmate, a crony, bosom buddies.”
Regular commuters on Mumbai’s local trains travel in groups. “Members take turns to sit, when there is a seat crunch in rush hours,” the Free Press Journal reported. One commuter recalled: “We would cut birthday cake in train, share til laddoos on Sankranti and other snacks.”
Local Samosa describes one such group: “For decades now, a group that has evolved over the years and welcomed new members sings bhajans in the trains.”
Udukkai izhandhavan kaipola aange idukkan kalaivadhaam natpu. This is couplet 788 of the Tirukkural. In one English rendering: “(True) friendship hastens to the rescue of the afflicted (as readily) as the hand of one whose garment is loosened.”
In the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, Karna challenges Arjuna at a tournament of the princes. Kripa objects to his birth: “Sons of kings never fight with men of inglorious lineage.” Duryodhana has Karna installed as king of Anga on the spot.
Karna asks: “what shall I give unto thee that may compare with thy gift of a kingdom?” Duryodhana answers: “I eagerly wish for thy friendship.” This is the Ganguli translation.
In the Valmiki Ramayana, the monkey king Sugriva sees Rama and Lakshmana in the forest and is afraid. He tells his ministers that his brother Vali “must have dispatched them.” His minister Hanuman reports to him about the two brothers.
Hanuman then brings them to Sugriva. Rama and Sugriva “take the oath of friendship before an altar of fire.” Only after this does Sugriva tell Rama that he saw Sita carried off through the sky. He shows him the ornaments she dropped, wrapped in her upper cloth.
A kitty party is an informal savings club, usually of women. The members meet regularly and each pays into a common pot. At each meeting one member takes the whole amount. “The kitty usually works with a set amount, say Rs 5000, and a fixed number of members,” the Free Press Journal explains.
The paper adds that kitties help women “to build a network of reliable individuals for emotional support and motivation.”
Nagudhar poruttandru nattal migudhikkan merchendru iditthar poruttu. Friendship is not for laughing together. It is for stepping in to rebuke a friend who goes too far. This is couplet 784 of the Thirukkural, in its chapter on friendship.