Koi Chakkar ne - a teenage slang

A question that begins with - Is, Am, Are, Do, Did, Does, Has, Have, Had, Will, Shall, Can, Could etc has two answers. Either it can be answered in 'Yes' or "No'. For example let us consider an interrogative sentence,"Would you reach in time?" The answer to it can, normally, be "Yes' or "No'. But politicians come out with answers like 'No comments' or 'It depends'. Some may answer by saying 'Let us see'.

Once General Parvez of Pakistan was asked by a journalist to answer some question in either 'Yes' or 'No'. The General cleverly evaded the question by saying, "Yes and No". (It was a television interview sometime in Dec 1999 when there was a military coop in their country)

Several teenagers of Jagraon (including my boys) often answer such questions by saying "Koi chakkar ne" (there are no circles). The person at the other end remains perplexed. He does not know what to infer.

The first time that I heard such an answer was in 1999 when we had recently come to Jagraon. There was a teenager at a cement shop. I made him the payment and asked if the material could reach in time. He said, "Koi Chakkar ne Uncleji koooeee Chakkarr ne".

I often wonder what would happen to the army if our soldiers give a similar reply to their officers in the battlefield.

The emergence of a Punjabi Saying

In the earlier days a male garment worn above the waist was called a Chagga. A typical chagga was a shirt that had one or two buttons near the chest for changing and it normally reached down to near the knee level. The front part had a fold near the stomach to cover the bulge of the belly and the rear part had folds at the upper back to make it airy. The front part and the rear part of the shirt were separated at the waist level. The front part could also be lifted with both the hands and could accomodate any thing that required urgent storage without affecting the rear part. It was called Jholli.

Punjabi society was basically agranian. In all probability if any person was antagonized he could go and uproot whatever one had sown for himself or his family. But later on the society got diversified and people learned to make a living through several other occupations. Then the person who antagonized the other had no fear of getting anything uprooted and suffer a loss. So he could afford to say say, 'Putt lae jo putt sakdaa-aen' (uproot whatever you can uproot). It got further corrupted with indecency. When a person wasn't left with anything much to lose and wanted to convey to his opponent to try and harm as much as was possible, he would lift his Chagga.

Presently there is a well known and widely used saying in the business circles of Punjab, that is "Chagga chakkna'. If a person cannot be trusted, he is advised by his well wishers by saying not to trust him in money matters as he may lift his Chagga. They would further add that, 'Kal nu ohne Chagga chakk laena. Pher ki karenga?' (Tomorrow what would you do if he denies you your dues?)