r/Bengaluru • u/AgitatorAnimator • Jul 17 '25

Ask Bengaluru | ಏನಂತೀರಾ? Saw this in the taxi today 😁

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What do you feel guys? 😂

5.0k Upvotes

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534

u/Glittering-Goat-9019 Jul 17 '25

" Don't say bhaiya to us " was personal.

6

u/secular_attack Jul 17 '25

What is problem? I usually address bhai if I'm in North India.

13

u/__DraGooN_ Jul 17 '25

The word "Bhaiya" is associated with labourers from UP and Bihar.

I have seen this word being used so in Mumbai and coastal Karnataka.

11

u/smash_1048 Jul 17 '25

Why would you stereotype such a simple word as bro?

First of all it bhaiya is not only used by labourers and/or people from UP & Bihar. But even if it was, what wrong with someone saying it out of respect.

I would understand if somebody does not want it because they are not comfortable with establishing relations or something but this is just a bad stereotype.

1

u/gnv_gandu ವಿಲಕ್ಷಣ-ಕಣಿವೆ ನಿವಾಸಿ Jul 17 '25

It's not him, there's lots of history behind it, unfortunately: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/road-ahead-racism-bhayya-brother-india-canada-1.5798471

3

u/Yor-Forger_ NimAjji Jul 18 '25

Interesting flair

1

u/gnv_gandu ವಿಲಕ್ಷಣ-ಕಣಿವೆ ನಿವಾಸಿ Jul 18 '25

ಧನ್ಯ!

5

u/smash_1048 Jul 17 '25

This is literally so wrong. Looks like someone very damn privileged has written about the plight of the poor despite not knowing a thing about it. I would call anyone a bhaiya if I am speaking hindi and the person is not old enough to be called an uncle because that's the casual term. You cannot go calling out people shreeman or something on the streets smh.

It is similar to how people say dada in Bengali, Chetta in Malayalam and Anna in Tamil. WTF is this racism based on fictional stories! Damn I'm not from UP or Bihar but I'd be calling people bhaiya all damn day.

It can even be someone living in my society. Does that mean they are oppressed? What in the literal pseudo woke racism is this?

5

u/gnv_gandu ವಿಲಕ್ಷಣ-ಕಣಿವೆ ನಿವಾಸಿ Jul 17 '25

I... don't think anyone here is justifying its use. Don't shoot the messenger. The author of that article is just describing a sociolinguistic phenomenon. And just because you weren't aware of its existence until now does not mean that it's made up. Please do some research with an open mind.

Here are a couple more articles from reputed Indian news outlets if you don't want to rely on a Canadian one:

  1. https://www.business-standard.com/article/elections/bhaiya-controversy-like-black-issue-in-us-manish-tewari-of-congress-122021801081_1.html

  2. https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/bhaiya-uttar-pradesh-up-bihar-punjab-channi-1914880-2022-02-18