Woh Wala Blog

The other day I was watching one of the most dramatic serial of our television industry - CID. The frantic lady in the serial wanted to kill all the investigators of CID – in her own words “Main in sab CID WALO ko mar dena chahati thi”. She meant that she wanted to kill all the investigators of CID. Lady, its your wish. You are allowed to kill anybody in this world. But, what is this CID Wala? What does "wala" have to do here?

I guess it’s neither the fault of the dialogue writer nor the lady who spoke it. Wala is powerful and frequently used word in India. Wala is a suffix, which we meet frequently in our daily life. It has its plural form as Wale or Walo and singular as Wala. Wali is used to refer female and Wala for Male.  Husband is referred as Ghar-Wala and Wife as Ghar-Wali. It is not just a word but its a phenomenon in itself.  Lets call it as Wala Pheonomenon (WP). 

With its varied usages in various situations, there can be a dictionary of FUW. (Frequently Used Wala’s). 

Few examples are given below in bulletwala style.

• It is used to refer to a seller or vendor of something. For eg: Doodhwala (Milkman) , Autowala (Rider of an auto) Sabziwale (Vendor of Vegetables) Paperwala, (Seller of Newspaper) or the Six sigma standard Dabbawala from Mumbai. With this trend, the Engineers can be called as Computerwale and Doctors can be called as Medicinewala or Patientwala.
• Probably, wala is similar to Apostorphes in English. It is used to indicate ownership – that something belongs to someone. Dad's shirt would be Papa wali shirt. 
• Wala can be combined with the name of a town or a city to indicate the ownership of that city. For Example: Indore wala poha (Poha from Indore) or Jalandhar wale Chachaji (Chachaji from Jalandhar). The usage is so common that the correct usage is rarely ever heard. Better, but the boring way to say this could have been : Indore ka Poha or Jalandhar ke Chachaji. 
• It can be used to denote a profession. Policewale (Police) and kaamwali bai (Maid) are often used words. I have heard people say that "Policewale toh suntay hi nahi hain". (Police doesn't listen to people). Policewale should ideally mean that the police have the possession of police. But, how can Police possess Police? If I use my poor jokes wala brain, this reference can be possible if the Police officer wears a Police brand wala watch. This way, we can have many cops in our society ranging from Titanwala to Fossilwala.
• Wala can also be used to describe attributes of something. Chhotawala purse (Small purse) or Laalwala pen (Red Pen). People are often described using WP. Paisewala saab(Rich boss),  Goriwali maam (Fair lady) or Zyada bolne wali BuaJi (Talkative aunt). 
• Directions are often explained using WP. Leftwala turn lena, (Take left turn) Lastwali car (Last Car) in the parking, are few examples.  
• Bollywood movies and songs often use this WP to highlight the drama. There are few Bollywood movies like HimmatWala, Police wala Gunda, Jiggarwala, Kismatwala and Bade Dil Wala. Songs like kajra mohabbat wala, Aane wala pal jaane wala hain, Dilliwali girlfriend and Ishq wala love are few to name. (I wish I could send a message to the composer of Ishq wala love to suggest to have a better-meaning wala song from the next time.) Also, if you are not able to recall the name of a song or a movie you can say the Wala or Wali of the movie or the song to explain. Ex : Tom Cruise wali movie  or Katrina wala song. 
• This and That are the english translations for Yeh and Woh in hindi. This and That alone does not work. (Ismein apnapan kaha!!). Thus, “Yeh” is changed to “Yeh-Wala” and “Woh” is changed to “Woh-Wala”.

This context based word fits everywhere. We Indians are quite adjusting and it seems, our words are evolved in a similar way. Now, the next time you go to market, you can show a smile-wala-face when you say to your Sabzi wala “Bhaiya! Woh wali sabzi dena”.

To sell WP to the world :

WP brings closeness and adds emotional quotient to your life. Use yeh Wala word and get happiness in your life. Ting Ting Tiding. :)

The FUW list goes on..

doodhwala, dukanwala, paperwala, rightwala, leftwala, blackwala Purse, sabziwala, cyclewala, courierwala, gaswala, paanwala,  kalwali dress, pehlewala ghar, saamnewala dost, uparwali aunty,  autowala, Phone pe baat karne wale, chaaiwala, aisa karne wale, gharwaale, pata lagaanewale logo ko inaam, doodh peenewala baccha, ghaas katne wala aadmi, drawing wali teacher, ………

Please feel free to add to the list and comment on usage of wala in your life.