Gayal

Who’s the bos(s)? G(h)ayal is!

Today’s New York Times Spelling Bee letters:

A, E, G, I, L, T, and center Y (all words must include Y).

Merriam-Webster says…

Silly little dictionary! Don’t you know gayal can’t possibly be a word if the New York Times says it ain’t?

For further fascinating facts, check out the Spelling Bee Master.

What’s your favorite dord* from today’s puzzle?

My Two Cents

Every so often I come up with a word I’m sure does not exist in English, only to discover it is in the dictionary. After all, English is considered to be the language with the greatest amount of individual words. Which is surprising, since I think words in German can just be coined by combined previously existing words into longer and longer terms until you end up with something like Bezirksschornsteinfegermeister, which means “district chimney sweep”.

And that’s one of the shorter long words in German!

No bull here

Officially called Bos frontalis by know-it-all taxonomists, the gayal is a large, domesticated bovine found in Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Yunnan, China. The word gayal comes from the Bengali gayāl, which is related to the Sanskrit word go, meaning “bull” or “cow”. However, gayals are also known as mithun or mithan, their native name in some parts of India and Bangladesh.

There is some debate as to whether the gayal is a species unto its own or is a subspecies or a domesticated version of the gaur, also known as the Indian bison. Here they are for comparison.

Clearly they are the same animal, except the one on the right is on steroids. Don’t believe me? Look at this description of the differences between a gayal and a gaur:

▹ The gaur is bigger and taller, and has thicker limbs. (Possibly steroids!)

▹ The gaur’s ridge is much more developed. (Likely steroids!)

▹ The gaur’s head is shorter and broader. (Presumably steroids!)

▹ The gaur suffers from erectile dysfunction. (Aha! Definitely steroids!)

Seriously, though, there were two main theories about the origin of the gayal. The first one claimed it was a domesticated version of the gaur (kinda like what happened with wolves and dogs). The second hypothesis states that the wild gaur was cross-bred with either the zebu or just your average Joe Cattle to create the gayal.

A group of scientists decided to solve the mystery and dug deep into the genetics of the gayal. In 2007 they published an article in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics titled “Phylogenetic Relationships and Status Quo of Colonies for Gayal Based on Analysis of Cytochrome b Gene Partial Sequences”.

Their conclusion was that “the gayal is an independent Bos species originating matrilineally from gaur, zebu, and cattle.”

Sounds to me like the gayal may have three mothers and no father. I’m a modern, open-minded guy and see nothing wrong with that. Plus, I’m not gonna question the findings of anyone who managed to come up with that title for a magazine article.

Unlike the gaur, which is considered a vulnerable species, the gayal, or mithun, is doing pretty well out there in the hills and forests as a semi-domesticated animal. Like most cattle, it’s kept mostly for its meat and milk. However, it also plays a role in the traditions and rituals of many of the tribal peoples of India, Bangladesh, and Tibet. There is even a National Research Centre on Mithun in India. One of their stated goals is to “ preserve, conserve and propagate superior quality mithun germplasm”.

Germplasm? That sounds pretty yucky, if you ask me. Okay, let’s move on to more pleasant things. Like blood and gore.

Sex and violence and more violence

Ghayal with an “h” is a Hindi word that means “wounded”. It’s also the name of two blockbuster Indian action movies set 26 years apart. Almost like Coming to America, except that Part 2 in this case not only didn’t bomb, but seems even more awesome than Part 1.

Ghayal was produced by the iconic Dharmendra, known as the “He-Man” of Indian cinema. This actor, producer, and politician (he was a member of parliament from 2004 to 2009), could seamlessly move from socking it to the bad guys to singing romantic ballads with his love interests. As any self-respecting Bollywood star should be able to do.

Dharmendra’s son Sunny Deol was tapped to star in the movie his dad produced. But I am assured this was purely a coincidence. Ghayal was a box office hit and got eight nominations at the Filmfare Award (the equivalent of the Oscars at the time), winning all but one of them, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor.

Okay, here goes the obligatory spoiler alert: there are plot spoilers in the next paragraph. Skip it at your own risk.

Sunny Deol plays amateur boxer Ajay Mehra who lives with his brother and his brother’s wife. His brother gets into debt and is rescued by a shady businessman who entraps honest people in order to launder money. Ajay’s brother gets evidence against Mr. Bad Guy, who promptly tortures and kills him. Then he frames Ajay for the murder and gets him accused of boning his dead brother’s wife. Whit her neighbors constantly and unbearably gossiping about her, the sister-in-law commits suicide. Ajay is arrested and jailed, but manages to break out with the help of some “good-hearted” hardcore convicts. He then single-handedly takes down all Mr. Bad Guy’s henchmen until he ends up face to face with Mr. Bad Guy himself at an amusement park. As adults and children watch, Ajay exacts revenge by killing the baddie.

Now, if you read the previous paragraph, you might be as surprised as I was to learn that Ghayal won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. If you didn’t read the previous paragraph, please go ahead and do so (spoilers be damned!) so that you can be as shocked as I was.

Now, after reading the plot summary and watching the trailer, I was all in! I love 1970s B movies, and that’s the vibe I got from Ghayal. I mean, it was released in 1990, but everything about it screams “Tarantino homage to grindhouse flicks!!!” (I added three exclamation marks because, as I said, it screams.) I mean, it was shot in Cinemascope, for goodness sake!

But then I read about Part 2, creatively titled Ghayal: Once Again. Released in 2016, it was written and directed by Sonny Deol, who also reprised the lead role. (Again, it’s just a coincidence that he happens to be the producer’s son.) Anyway… I’m thinking 26 years later, Sonny Deol must look old and flabby, right? Like a certain actor playing a prince in a sequel more than 30 years after he came to America.

Not at all. Turns out Deol has done a pretty good job of staying swole. And so I checked out the trailer and poster art for Ghayal: Once Again. Here are the posters for both movies.

C’mon, be honest. Which one would you rather see? The one on the left looks like a Rambo / Saturday Night Fever mash-up. What’s up with the violent disco dancing, anyway? The one on the right looks like Tom Cruise got tired of his Mission Impossible franchise and gave the lead role to a taller, fitter, better-looking guy.

I am so checking out Part 2! And then maybe, just maybe, I’ll give Part 1 a shot. See, the original Ghayal features several musical numbers and, although I don’t have an issue with musicals per se, I do prefer my action movies sans any song-and-dance interludes.

Here’s what blew me away the most about the Ghayal: Once Again trailer. I was able to clearly tell what the movie is about without knowing any Hindi. (To be fair, though, there are a few helpful hints in English.) It very much has a Hollywood production feel to it but, unlike American trailers, it doesn’t tell you everything that happens in the movie — even the ending, sometimes — to the point that you don’t need to bother with actually watching the film.

After I watched the trailer for Ghayal: Once Again, I wanted to do nothing else but watch the movie. Right then and there. I didn’t, of course, because (1) I still need to work to pay the bills (those pesky lottery numbers just never come through for me) and (2) I needed to write today’s column so you would know all about the awesomeness of the trailer.

In any case, as far as trailers are concerned: mission accomplished!

After bearing with me and reading this entire article, we’ve come to the conclusion that gayal is a bos, while Sunny Deol is the boss in Ghayal.

However, we can really only discuss the Indian movie, because the Indian bovine is verboten. You see, the editors of the Spelling Bee puzzle have determined that gayal is a dord.*

You didn’t really think I was gonna leave you hanging, did you? I would never do that to my five readers! Here’s the trailer for Ghayal: Once Again.

You can check out my previous entry on another dord* here:

*What the heck is a dord, you ask? Here’s the answer: