The Maalim Saabs Hindustani-Part 1

PREAMBLE: 

Communicating correctly--has always been a major challenge in society and more so in business- with Traders -Explorers and Seafarers-Sailors-- all. 

In order to understand people, we have to understand them and what better way than in a local spin off version language--So we had Maalim saabs Jahaz language - a sort of a Hindi English British India language, somewhat like  the very many genres of  Pidgin English seen and used then across more that 12 countries--esp Chinese. 

To embrace better understanding, due credit  must be given to the British that several factors were taken into consideration viz: Cultural, Gender, Age , Seniority, Situational challenge- tone -courtesy etc.The efficiency obviously was the gain -

Like the adage goes-:"Better be understood --than misunderstood"

INTRODUCTION

History  & Heritage records gleaned tells us that from about  the 1850s till 1970 the maalim saab's hindustani  prevailed. Later a dictionary called Malim Sahib's Hindustani' -written  by one C.T.Wilson, from Bombay Pilot Service was in print; the book was also published by Brown Ferguson & Son, UK --but now appears out of print. 

Looking back..I clearly recall this language was also heard -used on T.S. Dufferin and into the late 60s with Bombay crewing --till about mid 70s- 

By the late 1970s Asian (Indian) crewing changed to Multinational crews, for a host of reasons. and it was slowly forgotten as it is with time and change.

Recall the term Pori ( meaning *Watch-keeper or Lookout man ) -

My batch mate and close friend Subash (Fred) Kelkar (ex BI- British India Steam navigation) now -informs me-the " Malim saabs Hindustani" was actually mandatory for British officers on India sailing routes. All UK personnel opting for "Eastern Service" had to master the dictionary  or else it was back to the  "home line"-
These terms were introduced by the British in shipping and naturally was all lost  by late 1970s and is now quite  redundant.I recall a totally lost look on faces when I changed to SISCO--predominantly South and Tamil speaking staff  and used a few words  with a junior set in 1971..saw a look of sheer bewilderment on faces--

Usually titles and names are linked to places or professions. The name Poriwala meant a Look out man or a Watch duty or for a Crew Member assisting the Navigating Watch keeper. However here it seems the origin is lost in antiquity.....Perhaps the word Pori-wala  as a Lookout or Watch- watchkeeper, had survived about 150 years of British Asian Crewing and esp P&O lines --Cruises .
Looking at the origin of the word--Poriwala is the names of 2  places -villages.
1). In Punjab in Pakistan
2). In Himachal Pradesh

Origin of Malim Saab's  language. Crew titles like Serang for Boatswain , Tindall -Asst Boatswain , Cassab -(Store keeper & Paint ) , Batti -Asst.Wiremen--Sukhani,--QuarterMaster -Helmsman on the Wheel was prevailing - and used .Bhandary Cook for crew, Cassab for storekeeper , Aagwala for Fireman were all in this lot. Also many standing work instructions and orders.

I tried to search for a copy of the  Malim Saabs language origin recently but was unable to trace as so much has changed in the new millennium. In P & O &  BI  -in fact almost all British ships on India  route sailings --the ships had small pocket book translations.But,..now all lost in the sands of time and antiquity.   
Much of the Maalim Saabs language of ships  was a mix of Chalu Hindi- aka Hindustani-Gujarati-Marathi-Konkani (Ratnagiri) a little Urdu maybe .....but a real pot pourri of words, but  simple and effective. Obviously as we had a mix of crews from all across India -Pak , but Guarat -Ratnagiri- Goa (catering crews) , Daman &  Diu and Minicoy, Calcutta provided the large majority this was most suited. 

P&O has written a very good Tribute on  the Asian Crews many years ago.
Now with Flagging out and a totally changed,  mixed international crewing concepts with as many as 11 Nationalities on a single ship- from European /Continent to SE Asia to Far East.....to-- God knows where next time will tell on communicating effectively.
An interesting subject for a study-on Communications on ships today perhaps
Whats in a Language some one may ask ?TR 

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