On my one week Delhi-Agra-Jaipur tour with G Adventures English was the main language of communication. The members of my second travel group in Spiti also spoke English but there were times when knowing the local language was useful. Thank God for Divya, a fellow Gold Solar Project participant-cum-Hindi/English translator. I also managed to pick up some local words along the way. The people of Spiti have their own dialect but they also speak the national language Hindi. There is no such language called ‘Indian’. Referring to Hindi as Indian is one sure way to annoy a local. Here is a list of my most used during my time in Spiti:

SPITIAN      ENGLISH
juleh            hello

HINDI          ENGLISH
acha            sure/alright/etc
nahi             no
theek hai     ok
bhaiyaa       brother
chalo           let’s go!
fataafat        quickly

Guess which words were most used on our solar bath construction site.