Anyone speak Hindi?

hammerklavier said:

I'm trying to come up with a name for an Indian resturant in my book. I thought "Bad Monkey" or "Bura Bandar" would be cool. Is "Bura Bandar" grammatically correct? I hope it doesn't imply anything obscene!

Also, I mean "bad" in the sense of "naughty, mischievous, or disobedient"

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What you are wanting is in UK terms would be Cheeky Monkey...but in Hindi...I will provide this for you later today...

Cheeky means bad?

What does bad mean?

That's it, I think. "Bura" doesn't have a fun connotation. I'd suggest words like "chanchal" or "nutkhut" - but I'd like to see what KrishnaJewel says.

What kind of restaurant is it? And is it in India or in the West?

hammerklavier said:

I'm trying to come up with a name for an Indian resturant in my book.

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Here's a list of Indian restaurants in the US: http://www.thokalath.com/restaurant/index.php

hammerklavier said:

But I'm looking for a ficticious and more unusual name.

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Easy, just combine real names to make a new one.

hammerklavier said:

What do "chanchal" and "nutkhut" mean? They both sound kind of cool.

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They both mean mischievous, sort of. Chanchal has connotations of restlessness, playfulness, liveliness, maybe fidgetiness; nutkhut (more usually written 'natkhat') is more like naughty.

chanchal is pronounced chun (rhymes with fun), chull (rhymes with hull).
natkhat is pronounced nut - khut (rhymes with cut).

I gotta admit I can't quite imagine someone naming an Indian restaurant that, but I suppose if they're trying for an edgy image - with weird lighting and a fusion menu - it'd work.

Well as a Indian I will like to know why should use a monkey 's name ? But still you can name it as Anjaneya's cafe . He is a revered God in Hindu Mytholgy .
padma

That would make it much more true-ethnic rather than Indian-inspired, though.
Anjaneya is the God known more usually as Hanuman, and represented as a monkey. Anjaneya means Son of Anjana (name of a monkey-princess). He was Rama's ally in the battle against Ravana.

I think the point to consider, though, is that monkeys don't have the fun/ mischief/playfullness connotation they have in the West. The image would be more serious (as in the monkeys of the Ramayana), or clever and cunning, like the monkeys in the Panchatantra.

I'd guess that a parrot would have some of the same connotations in India as a monkey has in the west. The word there is tota. (Roughly, toe-tah, though both t's are soft - a sound that doesn't exist in English but does in French. Like the t in trois.)

(And yes, bun-durr would be right.)

hammerklavier said:

I'm trying to come up with a name for an Indian resturant in my book. I thought "Bad Monkey" or "Bura Bandar" would be cool. Is "Bura Bandar" grammatically correct? I hope it doesn't imply anything obscene!

Also, I mean "bad" in the sense of "naughty, mischievous, or disobedient"

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Hi sorry it took me so long to get back to you....I was in a hurry before then didnt get a chance to reply....I also wondered why you wanted to use monkey in the name - thinking of Hanuman as well...

Cheeky is a British term....it has many meanings depending on how it is used...Cheeky can mean rude or mischievous. Cheeky Monkey is a VERY Common phrase that is most commonly used in regard to mischievous children.

That said....the suggestion I have is Mauji Bandar.

Context, please?

Lovers? Husband and wife? Father-daughter? Nephew-Aunt?

You could use "Meri jaan," which literally translates as "my life" but carries the same weight as "darling." This is probably the easiest and most suitable.

[Oh, and that would be pronounced "may-ree jahn".]

He could call her Chandni ki rani (literally Queen of silver) because there's a connection between silver and moon. (Moon is Chand or Chandra.) Or "Shehzadi" which is princess, but Muslim. (Are your characters Hindu or Muslim?) But frankly, those are a bit formal, and would be more appropriate at the courtship phase.

Once they're married, he would likely call her by some cute diminutive of her name, which would have the same implication of affection. For example, if her name is Geetika, he might call her Geetu, or 'my Geetu.' Or something simple like "rani" which means queen. (It's also used as a name.)

Back to the restaurant:

Since the restaurant is in NYC and not India and therefore the patrons will be New Yorkers, I wouldn't worry about the Hindu or Indian or Hindi. I'd just call it "Cheeky Monkey, Indian Restaurant". It's a fun, edgy name for a restaurant. Most patrons wouldn't be able to translate from Hindi anyway.

Restaurants in US cities are getting all sorts of odd names. We have one for a while called 'five'. Another critically acclaimed is called 'Vincent a Restaurant.' Another is called 'Pop!'.

I'd stick with a fun name in English, perhaps something that gives a hint that this is an Indian place. 'Mango Palace', maybe, or 'Bangalore, Bangalore', or 'Monkey King', although those are not very edgy. They're more neighborhood places (unless the neighborhood is the Village).

names

hammerklavier said:

If there's anything astronomy related like the hindi version of "Princess of the Moon" that might be appropriate as the bride is an astrophysicist.

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what are your characters' names? I think something like "janu" which is from "jaan" (my life)

as far as the monkey question,lol.....i think the actual name should maybe be in english but the hindu characters could refer to it by the translation? that would make more sense.

ivorywhisper said:

what are your characters' names? I think something like "janu" which is from "jaan" (my life)

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Yes.

If you want romantic rather than affectionate, "Mere sapnon ki rani" - Queen of my dreams- refers to an old song from a Hindi movie (sapnon is pronounced sup-no)

Another option is "Taaron ki rani" as a name he uses when they're courting ("Queen of the stars"), which would be a play on the above. It could be shortened to Taru later, and only they would know why he calls her that.

Yet another hindi question

My SF novel is set 300 years into the future, and Hindi is widely used in the Star Venture (although it's an amalgam of various cultures, Chinese and pan-European among them).

I need some Hindi planet names, one for a (mainly) waterworld and one for a planet with a thick, foggy atmosphere. Would it make sense to use Samudra (ocean/sea) for the first one and Badala (cloud) or Kuhara (fog) for the latter? I've just pulled these terms off an online dictionary.

Also does Bilak mean anything? For some reason one of the characters calls himself that He's grown up in India, but the crew is mixed, with an African, North American and Scot among them.