The Origin of "Beh"
Just got back from my cousin's wedding. Its exam time but taking time off to catch up with family is time well-spent; oh, and for the food too..heheh.. fragrant yellow rice, sweet & sour 'achar', mutton so tender paired with masala you could drink, and my favorite, chicken sambal so good..you could drink the sambal too!! Time well-spent indeed.
But more poignantly, this cousin is the 2nd son of one of my favorite uncles, an uncle who tragically passed away in 2002 from a heart attack, he was barely into his late forties. I guess the cause of his heart attack wasn't a mystery given his weakness for drinking and very rich food, and being Indian, genes which made him prone to such a condition. Weaknesses he may have had, like all of us, but he was a gem of a man. He was extremely hardworking and provided well for his family. But more importantly, he was a man of Moral Fibre. Not an ounce of evil in him, some would say. Upright, honest, kind, helpful, i will always feel his unconditional love.I remember being barely able to contain my tears at his funeral. And on his son's wedding day, i'm sure everyone took a moment to remember him. And i'm sure he was looking down proudly at his son.
So, in case you were wondering, whats all this got to do with "beh"? Well, thats what my uncle used to call me, in fact, that's what he called his sons and nephews and any young lad. I deduced "beh" was his 'Indianized' way of calling someone 'boy'. Actually, it should be spelt 'bei' or 'bey' the way he pronounced it. I used to tell Karthi about my uncle and his 'bei' and he was so captivated by it, we started to call each other 'bei'. I have another group of friends who call me 'dey'. Other than Karthi, some of my friends from JC, mostly the guys, also call me by the prevalent variant "beh". I don't remember the details of how i propagated beh in JC. But one peculiarity is that like in a 'hub and spoke' network, i am the hub who calls most of 'em beh, and they in turn call me beh, but they never call each other beh..haha. A unique position i guess..?
So thats how beh came about. And each time beh is used, i will always remember the love and affection of my uncle.
But more poignantly, this cousin is the 2nd son of one of my favorite uncles, an uncle who tragically passed away in 2002 from a heart attack, he was barely into his late forties. I guess the cause of his heart attack wasn't a mystery given his weakness for drinking and very rich food, and being Indian, genes which made him prone to such a condition. Weaknesses he may have had, like all of us, but he was a gem of a man. He was extremely hardworking and provided well for his family. But more importantly, he was a man of Moral Fibre. Not an ounce of evil in him, some would say. Upright, honest, kind, helpful, i will always feel his unconditional love.I remember being barely able to contain my tears at his funeral. And on his son's wedding day, i'm sure everyone took a moment to remember him. And i'm sure he was looking down proudly at his son.
So, in case you were wondering, whats all this got to do with "beh"? Well, thats what my uncle used to call me, in fact, that's what he called his sons and nephews and any young lad. I deduced "beh" was his 'Indianized' way of calling someone 'boy'. Actually, it should be spelt 'bei' or 'bey' the way he pronounced it. I used to tell Karthi about my uncle and his 'bei' and he was so captivated by it, we started to call each other 'bei'. I have another group of friends who call me 'dey'. Other than Karthi, some of my friends from JC, mostly the guys, also call me by the prevalent variant "beh". I don't remember the details of how i propagated beh in JC. But one peculiarity is that like in a 'hub and spoke' network, i am the hub who calls most of 'em beh, and they in turn call me beh, but they never call each other beh..haha. A unique position i guess..?
So thats how beh came about. And each time beh is used, i will always remember the love and affection of my uncle.
posted by agent "nandha" smith at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
hey beh!
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