A Twitter Conversation Regarding “Mera Laung Gawacha”
Sometimes I LOVE twitter. A conversation regarding what the song “Mera Laung Gawacha” really meant, got initiated after a friend said that it had sexual connotations. First, lets look at Anjuman swinging her booty on Musarrat Nazir
These are the lyrics of the songs (as I understand them to be, which are very different from some of the lyrics I found online, which do not make any sense to me)
Piche piche aaunda meri chal venda aaieN) - 2 Chear Waliya vekhda aaye ve mera laung gawacha nigah marda aaieN ve mera laung gawacha Dil de pHariyan kyun maarna ae taanay ve milan main aayi tenu roti de bahanay ve roti de bahanay ve) - 2 milna aayi te mil warna rus jaanwaaN gee sada lein minataaN tu karke manayi ve, mera laung gawacha niggah mar da aaye ve mera laung gawacha hoo...aaa... Kaali kaali aayi si main kaliyaaN de haeth di kandiya see ghoont maiN awaaz sun Jaeth di avaaz nu dekhdi - 2 mainue shaq panda main nakh nu phurakh ke dig paiya hoon dungee paieeN ve, mera laung gawacha niggaH marda aaye ve mera alung gawacha
Further additions to this conversations/interpretation to the song are highly welcomed.
The conversation/tweets might be altered for clarity purposes
Me: Im in shock! A friend just informed me that the song “Laung Gawacha” is about losing virginity! Mindfuck completed!
@sepoy: hence the role played by laung in wedding ceremonies etc
Me: With respect to the last tweet, the woman is clearly telling the guy to follow her, makes it clear that she made an excuse to be there & he better deliver.
Me: And also emphasizes that she is impatient, coming from a line of impatient people, and he better get down to “looking for it”. Love it!
@kaalakawaa: I don’t believe it. But the “roti de bahaanay vay” line is quite incriminating.
@dotfuz: so “nose stud” is a metaphor for “virginity”? :S
@zakoota: Also the fact that she’s constantly telling him to keep and eye out for her lost..virginity? Nigah maar da aeen vay.
@kalakawa: We’re taking “kaali” in the song as the Punjabi colloquial for impatience right? Fishy indeed.
Me: @kaalakawaa Haha, I dont know. Also “Kaali Kaali Aiee Se Main KaaliyaaN De Haeth Di” is also fishy! I adore it more now, actually!
@sabaimtiaz: what a great song… And I think everyone uses a version of the roti de bahane vey excuse.
@kalakawa: .@dishoompk’s discovery that Laung Gavacha is about the girl losing her virginity has seriously blown my mind. He’s right too. Listen.
@shahidsaeed: @dishoompk so this means we see teenagers and oldies, girls and old ladies, singing the tune of loss of virginity every wedding @kaalakawaa
Me: @shahidsaeed @kaalakawaa Oh we are a raunchy bunch, aren’t we?! We should rediscover our roots. Down with prude middle class social ethics!
.. then the conversation drifted towards a gang of transvestite serial killers, Meera Jee and her WAG status.
Addendum: The original source adds, “The first lyric, mera laung gawacha, why is there so much fuss over just laung, right? Another name for laung is “nath”. In slang when a girl loses her virginity, it is said that her “nath” is removed.
Why is the girl telling the guy with “impeccable hair style” to look at her gait. Why? because she is a woman now, her gait has changed. She is no longer a girl with an awkward waddle but a woman with grace.”
Please contribute to this great conversation!
Dishoom Dishoom 
What. The. Fuck.
oh my god!
baki sab sahih hai, but the point about how everyone nonchalantly sings this at weddings is what gets to me the most! how could they! i second that call for down with middle class morals!
Hahaha, I sorta followed this conversation on twitter, and this thought occurred to me too. We should take to telling off old aunties for being imprudent at weddings from here onwards.
This is trippy, to say the least. Can’t even be ruled out as a theory. My command on Punjabi isn’t that strong par I’ll definitely try to extract an interpretation of it from someone who has.
Well dids for digging into it!
Funny enough; I remember sitting in the car and asking my mum, “What is this Lang, why has this woman lost it and why is she singing about it?” . Implication being; go look for your lang and leave us alone. Hahaha. Mum replies, it’s her nose piercing, she maybe needs help looking for it.
I was still annoyed, and those memories of annoyance now return. Still this does indicate we (I) should go fix my Punjabi.
Sad, that purely cultural is the only reason we bring up to criticise the strength or weakness of our Punjabi. Neither economic, nor political.
There is the small matter though, of that Pakistani establishment Punjabis own….*snicker*
I think there are too many metaphors being read into it when they aren’t really made obvious.
Also, awaaz suni jeth di implies the woman is married. If she is married the whole song takes on an entirely new meaning. Is she having an extramarital affair? Otherwise why would she start so upon hearing the sound of her brother-in-law’s voice? If she is having an extramarital affair then where does the virginity bit fit in?
My suggestion is that it is considered to be scandalous, for some reason, that she go see her husband out in the fields in the middle of the day, and saasoo maaN is waiting at home wondering where the bahu has disappeared, so she is telling her husband to meet her for a while away from the bustle of a joint household. Just my two paisas.
Whoa, haha, the things you find randomly browsing your friend’s blogs!
1) Sabahat is spot on. If she’s taking up a ‘kuhnd’ at the voice of her ‘jeith’ she’s already married, and if she’s walked through the ‘tahlian’ trees then she’s definitely out in the field as well.
2) If you listen to the full version of the song, the last verse is about the girl having ‘saariyan te shak vey’ and telling her husband/lover to search them all, lest they’ve kept the nose stud, out of envy. Unless you’re proposing an orgy now, this song is sure as hell not about losing virginity 😛
Sabahat makes sense to me.
Go Team Sabahat/Team Smart Women 😀
What is it with men and their fascination with virginity?
Gaana to pura sun letay!
😀
Hah. Your post came up in a Google search for the song lyrics. Interestingly, @Ricochet118 just wrote a blog post on nose/body piercings (http://sehrsmusings.blogspot.jp/2012/03/body-piercing.html?m=1), which reminded me of Laung Gawacha and the hidden/unclear meaning behind it.
So traditionally a woman gets her nose pierced right as she is about to get married. Meaning that a woman without a nose ring is unmarried, i.e single. Here there is some dude following the girl (pichay pichay aunda) as she’s not wearing a laung and so he thinks she’s single. And she’s telling him no it’s just that I lost it somewhere, could you please look for it, etc. And yeah also agree with what Sabahat and Haseeb wrote.
I was looking for english translation for this song and then reached here 😛
Sabahat and Haseeb do make a point!
But I still can’t figure the actual meaning of this song 😛
So a little help here please? 🙂
Super! all time music!!
Read this somewhere:
The song is about a lady(probably a newly wed) who came to meet her husband who is working in the field. She lost her nose pin somewhere and now she’s telling her husband to help her find that.
Peechay peechay anda…meeri chal vainda aaiN
Cheeray walya waikhda aain way
Mera long guwacha
Ooo Mera long guwacha
following me and watching ma kaboose
Keep ur eyes open while ur at it
I lost my nose pin
I lost my nose pin!
Dil diya bhairia kyooN marna e tanaay way
Milnay main aye tenooN roti day bahanay way
Milna ee tay mill, nayee tay russ jawaN gee sada layee
mintaaN tooN kar kay manayeeN wayyy
Mera Long Gawacha
Already sad, why art thou pick on me
I came all the way to meet you, giving bread the reason
If you want to meet, that’s fine, otherwise go to hell
When I will be all mad & grumpy, then you will come begging for forgiveness
Kali Kali aye see maiN TaliyaaN day haith dee
Kadiya see khundh maiN awaz sun Jaith dee
MiaNoo shuk painda meray Nuk choon phurak kay
dig piya hona doongee chayeen way
Mera Long Gawacha
I hurried my way through under the Tali
When I heard the voice of my (elder) brother in law, I covered my face
I think, it was then when my nose piece went flying off my nose in some creek
Marda see jadooN mera long laskara way
Pit pit takda see onooN jug sara way
Aik otay nahiN, menooN sariyaaN tay shuk way
Sub nooN thra kay chaati payeeN way
When my nose piece use to glitter
Everyone eyed it with envy
I don’t suspect one but everyone
So, line ’em up and search them thoroughly.