darshan – a vision of the divine, or having an audience with God/spirit
dau – sex
Dil Chahta Hai – Bollywood film
drunkle – drunk uncle
dupatta – long scarf
dwar band kijii-ya – shut the door
enthu cutlet – earnest eager beaver
famile – a tourism-industry expression for a free trip to experience something for the purpose of promoting to customers
gaandhu – slang term for gay men
ghand mallu – slang for gay sex
golgappa – fried snack food
goondas – thugs
gora – white woman
han – yes
Hum hai rahi pyaar ke, phir milenge chalte chalte – from the film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, ‘We are all on the path to love, see you again’
Ja apni bajaa, Uncle – go fuck yourself, Uncle
Jaan hai to Jahan Hai – famous Hindu proverb: ‘Where there’s life, there is the world’
jhalla – silly
ji – suffix to indicate formality
kaisee app – how are you (formal)
kaisee tum – how are you (informal)
kofta – dumpling
kotha – brothel
kripya – please
kulfi – ice-cream confection
kurta – men’s shirt
kutta – dog
kutte ke poot – son of a dog
ladoo – sweet
lakhs – 100,000 unit of currency
lau – love
mala – prayer bead with 108 beads
marg – street/road
masala chai – spiced tea
mataar – pea
mehndi – henna designs on skin
meri chuus maro! – suck my dick
meri dost – my friend
meri jaan – term of endearment
mithai – gifts of boxed sweets
momo – steamed Tibetan dumpling
muje dost – my friend
namaskar – hello
namaste – hello
nihin – no
pakora – fried snack
panipuri – fried snack
paratha – flatbread
parijata – tree variety
peda – sweet
porki – Hinglish for ‘fat cat’
prasad – food which has first been offered to God
puja – prayer
puri – fried bread
rakshasas – mythical part-human beasts from the Ramayana
Ram Ram – prayer to God
Ramayana – Traditional spiritual epic
sannyassin – holyman
scene pe kerosene – explosive scene
sehra – floral head covering
shaandar – excellent
subji – dry fried
sukriya – thank you
swaadisht – delicious
tatte masalna bakar chodu – ball-smashing goat fucker
thali – plate
tu hi to meri dost hain – you are my only friend
yaar – friend
Acknowledgements
People pack: Dogs of India is, like all good stories, a collaboration between truth, imagination, inspiration and longing. I thank and acknowledge all the characters and experiences that ended up woven into the story on the pages that follow. Thanks as high as the sky to my own fiercely supportive friend pack, the inspirational Shalini Shamnath, my Ma Jeanne Barnes, my beloved John McGee, our sweet doggies, and Maharaji, who guided from within.
Publisher Pack: The dogs would never have been let out without the prescient genius of Lou Johnson and Tom Galletta from The Author People, who had a brave plan to change the way authors tell their stories and let me come for the ride; design savant Zoe Sadokierski for a cover design which was entirely perfect, Douglas Frost for the photo shoot that took me to the back streets of my twenties; and the patient goddess Alex Nahlous who changed my point of view a little.
Find out more about Polly and The Author People at www.theauthorpeople.com
First published in 2015 by The Author People
PO Box 159, St Ives, NSW, 2075 Australia
Copyright © Polly McGee 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Author People.
Note: Some names have been changed to protect individuals’ privacy.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: McGee, Polly
Title: Dogs of India
ISBN: 9781925399035 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781925399028 (ebook)
Subject: Fiction
Design: Zoe Sadokierski
Printed by Lightning Source