Viveka munand, chiwala, Sholjay: How desi words knotted Trump’s tongue

The names, the inflexions, the tough Sanskritised nomenclatures – who can master it all? Definitely not Trump, who tried hard to get the names of Swami Vivekanand and Sachin Tendulkar right.

Trump, who is on a two-day visit to India with wife Melania Trump, and daughter Ivanka Trump, was trudging up the tough path as he tried to get a grip of Indian names while addressing a huge crowd at the ‘Namaste Trump’ event at Motera Stadium on Monday (February 24).

Quoting one of Swami Vivekananda’s sayings, he said, “As the great religious teacher Swami Viveka munand once said, ‘The moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free.’”

He went on to talk about how India’s potential was “incredible” and why India’s accomplishment was “unrivalled no matter where you go”.

Talking about Modi’s rise in politics, he said Modi had started out as a chiwala (tea-seller) instead of saying chai-wala.

He also mispronounced the names of cricket players while referring to them as some of the world’s “greatest cricket players.” “This is the country where the people cheer on some of the world’s greatest cricket players from Suchin (Sachin) Tendulkar to Virot (Virat) Kohli,” he claimed.

Understandably, people didn’t pay much attention to cricket in the US, so one couldn’t really blame him for not knowing how to spell their names.

Related news | The magical, mysterious hands behind Namaste Trump event

He then referred to Bollywood as the “hub of creativity” and said, “All over the planet people take great joy in watching the hub of genius and creativity known as Bollywood — Bhangra, and classic films like DDLJ and Sholjay (Sholay).”

One might say hearing Trump’s version of Indian names added a little humour to his speech.

Netizens have trolled Trump for his pronunciations on social media.

Who thought it was a good idea to get Trump to try and pronounce Swami Vivekananda on stage?

— Ross Adkin (@AdkinRoss) February 24, 2020

I struggle to socialize like Trump struggle to pronounce swami vivekanand.

— Girish (@Girishgogia) February 24, 2020

Trump will be visiting Agra to see the Taj Mahal after the ‘Namaste Trump’ event. On Tuesday (February 25), the US President will visit the Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. This will be followed by wide-ranging talks between Trump and Modi on issues such as trade and investment, defence, counter-terrorism, and energy security.

In the evening, President Ram Nath Kovind will hold a banquet in Trump’s honour after which the latter will return to the US.