Gareebi Mein Aata Geela

# 85

March 17, 2021

Today’s Hindi proverb (कहावत) is:

गरीबी में आटा गीला।

(Transliteration: Gareebi mein aata geela.)

Literal translation: In poverty, flour wet. (Was) In poverty (already) (and now) the flour is wet.

Figurative meaning: As if the already existing situation was not difficult enough, now another difficulty has been added.

Water in flour

Usage in a sample sentence:
जॉन किसी तरह अपने ट्यूशन फीज़ के पैसे अपने दोस्तों से उधार लिया, लेकिन स्कूल जाते समय किसी ने उसकी जेब काट ली और पैसे चोरी हो गए। बेचारेका गरीबी में आटा गीला हो गया।

(Transliteration: John kisi tarah apne tuition fees ke paise apne doston se udhaar liya, lekin school jaate samay kisi ne uske jeb kaat li aur paise chori ho gaye. Bechareka gareebi mein aata geela ho gaya.)

Translation: John somehow borrowed his tuition fee money from his friends, but on his way to school, someone picked his pocket and the money was stolen. Poor guy, got his flour wet while in poverty.

Origins of the proverb: Wheat flour (aata) is the main ingredient in making Indian flatbread (rotis), which is the staple diet of most of the Hindi-speaking north Indians. The poor man’s subsistence diet is supposed to be dal and roti. To preserve the wheat flour, it must be kept dry in a water-tight container, because once the flour comes in contact with water, it undergoes an irreversible chemical change and it can no longer be preserved. During times of poverty and scarcity, people try their best to keep their flour dry and use it only sparingly. Sometimes, due to an accident or due to heavy rains and flooding, some water might get into the flour-container and thus spoil the flour. Such unfortunate accidents cause additional difficulties in an already impoverished house. So, when you are already in poverty and your flour gets wet, the situation came to be used as a euphemism for additional difficulties piling up on an already difficult situation.