Nuggets of Sholay: Eight - Aam Ke Aam Guthliyon Ke Daam

This happens to be one of my most favourite proverbs used in the film Sholay. Why you might ask? Well, a) I love mangoes and b) I own a mango orchard. :)

And I also have an interesting story to tell related to this muhavra. Read on.

Muhavra: Aam Ke Aam Guthliyon Ke Daam (आम के आम गुठलियों के दाम) 

The scene is this. Imam saab is climbing down the steps of the mosque, when he is accosted by Basanti. Interrupting Basanti's bak bak, Imaam saab requests Basanti to knock some sense into Ahmed to take up the job of the bidi-maker in Jabalpur. Ahmed arrives at that moment and Basanti says (at 0h57m), "Yun to humein bephijool baat karne ki aadat to hai nahin, lekin sochlo yeh, karkhana bidi ka hai, jab tak dil chaha kaam kiya, nahin to aaram se bidi pee li. yaani ke yeh to to wahi misaal hui, ke aam ke aam guthliyon ke daam."  

Aam Ke Aam Guthliyon Ke Daam

Loosely translated, she says that you can work as much as you want, and when you want, you can even smoke up a bidi. Therefore it's like  the proverb where you not only get to eat the lovely mangoes, but you get money for the seeds.

The English equivalent of this proverb is 'Two birds with one stone" or even "Have your cake and eat it too". Meaning that you get an add-on benefit when you do something.

Adn now the story. Last year, I was in the great city of Benares. While strolling through the wonderful ghats, once I saw a small gathering of people who were discussing some interesting topic. It was a cold morning and they were sipping ginger-chai served through a steaming aluminium teapot. Looked inviting, so I sat with them and got hold of a cuppa. There was a sadhu in the midst and they were discussing life and politics.  One of them was narrating the story of a lucky politician and said, "...Aam ke aam guthliyon ke daam..." Everyone else laughed to this, and so did the sadhu. However, the sadhu then went on to explain the origin of this proverb. And I listened intently.

According to the sadhu, many years ago, it was an annual ritual for the village boys and girls in UP to steal from mango orchards nearby. And there was one particular boy near Benares who would get into a particular orchard, grab as many mangoes he could, go to the pond and devour all of them. He would carefully store the seeds though. He would do this everyday till he reached 100 seeds, upon which he would go to the local bus stop and sell the seeds to passengers. And thus he not only had the pleasure of the mangoes, but also made money by selling seeds. And that, according to the sadhu is the origin of this proverb. Aam ke aam guthliyon ke daam.

That was the nugget. Samjhe ke nahin? Agar achha laga to comment kijiye. Agar achha nahin laga to lament kijiye.

Goodbye, aadab and namaste.