Raee Ka Pahad Banana

62

February 8, 2021

Today’s Hindi idiom (मुहावरा) is:

राई का पहाड़ बनाना।

(Transliteration: Raee ka pahad banana.)

Literal translation: To make a mountain of a mustard seed.

Making a mountain out of a molehill

Figurative meaning: To over-react and exaggerate the impact of a minor situation by distorting it disproportionately and making it appear much bigger than it actually is. (Very similar to the English idiom, “To make a mountain of a mole-hill.”)

Usage in a sample sentence:

टीवी न्यूज एंकर्स को राई का पहाड़ बनाने की आदत है। वे हर एक खबर को सनसनीखेज बनाना चाहते हैं।

Transliteration:  TV new anchors ko raee ka pahaad banane ki aadat hai. Ve har ek khabar ko sansanikhej banana chahate hain.

Translation:  
TV news anchors have a habit of making a mountain of a mustard-seed. They want to sensationalize every bit of news.

Origins of the idiom: A mountain is huge in comparison to a mole hill. Some people are in the habit of exaggerating the impact of every minor thing in their life. They distort their narration to make it appear that the situation was much more severe than it actually was. They may have seen a tiny mustard seed, but in their narration, they describe it to be as big as a mountain!