JaaT maraa tab jaaniye jab terahvee ho jaaye

This is a quote from an unlikely source. Kamalahaasan keeps making movies in which he has strange get ups. Right from the dwarf in Appu Raja to the women in Chaachi 420 to the old man in Hindustani. And you have to hand it to him. He is the only major star in Indian cinema, who takes his make up seriously. He is currently working on a film called Dashaavataaram where he will play 10 roles. But in the year 2001 he came out with a movie called AaLavandaan (आळवन्दान ஆளவந்தான்) where he played a double role of an army officer and his deranged long lost twin brother (Abhay Kumar). It was also simultaneously released in Hindi as Abhay. The Abhay Kumar character had a bald pate, grotesque tattoos, dangerous dagger with serrated edges and a pronounced preference for the soliloquy. In one such soliloquy - he rants and narrates a long poem. But the last line of the poem is the line featured here

जाट मरा तब जानिये जब तेरहवी हो जाए

JaaT maraa tab jaaniye jab terahvee ho jaaye

Now this is not a blog on sociology and casteism - so the line has to be understood in that spirit. This is of course not a film dialogue in itself - it is a proverb. But it is a less known proverb and hence I am featuring it here. So whenever you are beaten in a game or at work, but believe you can bounce back. Or if you see someone who has that capability you can use this line. For the eternal never say die spirit - not even when you are dead. तेरहवी of course is a reference to the obsequies that are held on the 13th day after death in India. So technically you would have been dead for thirteen days on your terahvee or tervee as some people call it.