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Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 11 - A Narrow Escape in India
INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to HindiPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 11 - A Narrow Escape in India. Eric here.
Udita: नमस्तेNamaSTe I'm Udita.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about an impending event using duplicated verbs. The conversation takes place at an office.
Udita: It's between Farah and Sapna.
Eric: The speakers are co-workers and friends, so they’ll use familiar Hindi. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
फ़राह : मैंने सुना कि तुम एक बड़े एक्सीडेंट से बाल बाल बची हो?
सपना : हाँ बहुत ही डरावना था। शुक्र है कि कुछ हुआ नहीं।
फ़राह : क्या हुआ?
सपना : हम सफदरजंग के सामने से जा रहे थे, साधारण तरीके से। अचानक सामने वाली गाड़ी को - पता नहीं क्या हुआ - वो बीच रस्ते घूम गयी। और हम उस से टकराते टकराते बचे।
फ़राह : क्या गाड़ी तुम चला रही थी?
सपना : नहीं, शुक्र है मेरा ड्राइवर चला रहा था। पता नहीं मैं उतनी जल्दी रोक पाती कि नहीं। हमारा ड्राइवर बहुत ही अच्छा है। वरना हम तो गए थे।
फ़राह : सिर्फ तुम दोनों थे?
सपना : नहीं पीछे बच्चें भी थे। इतनी जल्दी सब हुआ, कि कुछ समझने का मौका ही नहीं मिला।
फ़राह : सब डर गए होंगे।
सपना : हाँ बुरी हालत हो गयी थी।
फ़राह : सामने वाली गाड़ी को क्या हुआ था?
सपना : पता नहीं चला। हम वहां जाम लगने से पहले निकल गए।
Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
फ़राह : मैंने सुना कि तुम एक बड़े एक्सीडेंट से बाल बाल बची हो?
सपना : हाँ बहुत ही डरावना था। शुक्र है कि कुछ हुआ नहीं।
फ़राह : क्या हुआ?
सपना : हम सफदरजंग के सामने से जा रहे थे, साधारण तरीके से। अचानक सामने वाली गाड़ी को - पता नहीं क्या हुआ - वो बीच रस्ते घूम गयी। और हम उस से टकराते टकराते बचे।
फ़राह : क्या गाड़ी तुम चला रही थी?
सपना : नहीं, शुक्र है मेरा ड्राइवर चला रहा था। पता नहीं मैं उतनी जल्दी रोक पाती कि नहीं। हमारा ड्राइवर बहुत ही अच्छा है। वरना हम तो गए थे।
फ़राह : सिर्फ तुम दोनों थे?
सपना : नहीं पीछे बच्चें भी थे। इतनी जल्दी सब हुआ, कि कुछ समझने का मौका ही नहीं मिला।
फ़राह : सब डर गए होंगे।
सपना : हाँ बुरी हालत हो गयी थी।
फ़राह : सामने वाली गाड़ी को क्या हुआ था?
सपना : पता नहीं चला। हम वहां जाम लगने से पहले निकल गए।
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Farah: I heard you narrowly escaped a big accident recently?
Sapna: Yes, it was very frightening. Thankfully nothing happened.
Farah: What happened?
Sapna: We were on the road in front of Safdarjang, as usual. Suddenly—I don't know what happened to the car in front of us—it swerved and turned around in the middle of the road. And we barely escaped colliding with it.
Farah: Were you driving?
Sapna: No, thank goodness my driver was driving. I don't know if I could have stopped the car as quickly. Our driver is really good. Otherwise we would have been in big trouble.
Farah: Was it just the two of you?
Sapna: No, the children were in the back too. Everything happened so fast, we didn't understand what happened.
Farah: Everyone must have been shocked and scared.
Sapna: Yeah we were really shaken.
Farah: What had happened to the car in front?
Sapna: I didn’t find out. We got out of there before it became crowded.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: It sounds like Sapna had a lucky escape!
Udita: Yes, driving in India requires skill sometimes, because pedestrians will cross anywhere.
Eric: Sometimes they just step out between cars?
Udita: Yeah, and stray animals do too, sometimes.
Eric: Am I right in thinking that cars in India are right hand drive, and people drive on the left side of the road?
Udita: Yes, you’re right. And there are many types of vehicles of all different sizes. So, smaller vehicles like bikes and rickshaws might snake their way between larger vehicles.
Eric: It all sounds pretty chaotic!
Udita: It really can be if you’re not used to it.
Eric: Do cyclists and other vehicles give warnings of their movements?
Udita: Besides their blinkers, there are some informal hand signals that riders of bikes or three wheelers might use.
Eric: I guess if you’re on the road in India, you have to stay alert and keep your wits about you.
Udita: You definitely do!
Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Udita: बाल बाल बचना [natural native speed]
Eric: to escape narrowly
Udita: बाल बाल बचना [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: बाल बाल बचना [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: डरावना [natural native speed]
Eric: scary, fearsome, horrific
Udita: डरावना [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: डरावना [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: शुक्र है [natural native speed]
Eric: thank goodness
Udita: शुक्र है [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: शुक्र है [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: साधारण [natural native speed]
Eric: ordinary, simple
Udita: साधारण [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: साधारण [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: टकराना [natural native speed]
Eric: to collide, to bump into
Udita: टकराना [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: टकराना [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: वरना [natural native speed]
Eric: otherwise
Udita: वरना [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: वरना [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Udita: डरना [natural native speed]
Eric: to be scared
Udita: डरना [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: डरना [natural native speed]
Eric: And last..
Udita: बुरी हालत [natural native speed]
Eric: bad condition
Udita: बुरी हालत [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Udita: बुरी हालत [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Udita: बाल बाल बचना baaL baaL bacNaa
Eric: meaning "to escape narrowly." Can you explain this one for us?
Udita: बाल baaL is a noun which means “hair.” The verb बचना bacNaa means “to escape” or “to be safe.”
Eric: So together they mean “to escape by a hair,” or “to escape narrowly.”
Udita: That’s right. This idiom is commonly used in situations where you have barely escaped trouble.
Eric: So it’s used for dangerous situations?
Udita: Yes, but also situations that aren’t dangerous that you just want to avoid.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Udita: Sure. For example, you can say.. मैं पकड़े जाने से बाल बाल बच गया। main pakde jaaNe Se baaL baaL bac gayaa.
Eric: ..which means "I narrowly escaped getting caught." Okay, what's the next phrase?
Udita: शुक्र है sukra hai
Eric: meaning "thank goodness." What can you tell us about this?
Udita: शुक्र है sukra hai is a shortened version of भगवान का शुक्र है bhagvaaN kaa sukra hai or खुदा का शुक्र है khuDaa kaa sukra hai. These mean “it is the grace of god,” or “thank god.”
Eric: How does the shortened form differ?
Udita: The shortened version doesn’t say who we’re giving thanks to, so it just means something similar to “thank goodness.”
Eric: How is it used?
Udita: It can be used as either an interjection on its own, or as part of a longer sentence.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Udita: Sure. For example, you can say.. शुक्र है कि हम जल्दी चले आए वरना अब तक जैम में फँसे होते। sukra hai ki ham jaLDii caLe aae varNaa ab Tak jaim mein phanSe hoTe.
Eric: .. which means "Thank goodness we came early, otherwise we'd still be stuck in traffic." Okay, what's the next phrase?
Udita: बुरी हालत burii haaLaT
Eric: meaning "bad condition." What can you tell us about this one?
Udita: हालत haaLaT is a noun meaning “condition” or “state” and बुरा buraa is an adjective which means “bad.”
Eric: So it means “bad condition”.
Udita: Yes. It can be used to describe a person’s physical or emotional state, or even both.
Eric: It sounds like a bit of an all-purpose term.
Udita: It’s a little vague, but gets the general idea across.
Eric: What’s an example using this phrase?
Udita: For example, you can say.. जब सबके सामने खड़े होकर मोहन को बात करना पड़ा उनकी बुरी हालत हो गयी थी। jab Sabke SaamNe khade hokar mohaN ko baaT karNaa padaa uNkii burii haaLaT ho gayii THii.
Eric: .. which means "When Mohan had to stand up in front of everyone and speak, he became extremely flustered." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about impending events using duplicated verbs. In the dialogue, Sapna spoke about almost colliding with a car.
Udita: That’s right. If we want to say that something almost happened, we can duplicate the verb.
Eric: Okay. Can you give us an example?
Udita: The two most common Hindi verbs are करना karNaa, meaning “to do” and होना hoNaa meaning “to be.”
Eric: And we can duplicate these verbs to mean “almost did” and “almost was”?
Udita: Yes, we can. You put the duplicated part before the final action verb.
Eric: Can you give us an example?
Udita: करते करते बचे karTe karTe bace which loosely means “almost did.”
Eric: Is this verb pattern used for anything in particular?
Udita: We often use this with बचना bacNaa, which means “to escape.”
Eric: To say that we almost escaped something?
Udita: Yes, we use it in situations where the danger or possibility of something happening is high, and the situation was narrowly escaped.
Eric: Could we use it to say that we barely passed an exam?
Udita: Yes, that’s a good example. मैं परीक्षा में फ़ेल होते होते बच गया main pariiksaa mein feL hoTe hoTe bac gayaa
Eric: Can you walk us through that sentence, Udita?
Udita: Sure. In this case, the verb-phrase to be repeated is फ़ेल होना feL hoNaa, “to fail”. As this is more than one word, we only repeat the verb at the end so it becomes फ़ेल होते होते feL hoTe hoTe.
Eric: Can you give us another example?
Udita: मटका गिरते-गिरते बचा। matakaa giraTe-giraTe bacaa.
Eric: Which means “the pot just escaped falling.”
Udita: Right. We use repeated verbs a lot in Hindi for different things.
Eric: How do we tell the difference between what they’re being used for?
Udita: The main difference is in the final verb used. When we use बचना bacNaa, as we discussed before, we know that it will mean “almost.” There are other verbs that also give the meaning of “almost.”
Eric: Can you give an example using another verb?
Udita: मुझे वह नौकरी मिलते मिलते छूट गयी mujhe vah Naukrii miLTe miLTe chuut gayii
Eric: Which means “I barely missed getting that job.”

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time!
Udita: अलविदा aLviDaa

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