As a child, I could set the numerous antique clocks in our home by Nana’s schedule. At 7.30, she left for work. At precisely 1, she was back. Lunch was at 1.15, and tea was on the table at 3. By 3.30, she had begun to eye the aforementioned clocks as Chandra, washer of utensils and bathrooms in our home, had failed to stick to her arrival time yet again. On some occasions, she waddled in a mere half hour late. On others, there was no sighting at all. But we knew to wait a good hour before we gave up and reassigned her chores to other house help. This behavior never failed to elicit a caustic remark from my not-so-gentle grandmother:
“Chandra noh toh bhoot no bharoso!”, Chandra has all the reliability of a ghost.
Pronounced: Bhoo-t (as in toot), no (as in foe), bhur- (as in fur), -oh- (as in go), -so (as in toe)
Since few can claim to discern the inner workings of a spook’s mind, I suppose they must appear rather come-as-you-please to us mortals. Quite inconvenient, yes, but an entire genre of films would collapse if the spirit world gave advance notice of their appearances, not to mention we would never have the pleasure of this song:
Anyhoo, swooping back to ghostly (un)reliability, let’s practice our newly-acquired Parsipanu:
Dolly noh toh bhoot no bharoso. She confirms 6 o’clock and sashays in at a quarter past eight! 😡
You try:
OJ truly has bhoot no bharoso. Sometimes she’ll post every week, and at others, it’s twice a month. 😕
One last time:
Hey, is Behzad coming for the marathon?
Who knows if he’ll wake up? Enoh toh bhoot no bharoso!
~
Who in your life has bhoot no bharoso? And now that you are armed with this wonderfully evocative phrase, whom will you use it on? Tell, tell! Bhoot stories welcome too! 😉
Wisdom Wears Neon Pyjamas 
What a clever and obvious saying! I wonder why it isn’t prevalent in more cultures.
Please don’t tempt me so. Maro pota no bhoot no bharoso nathi. Blog start karine posted quite a bit inititally pachi life got in the way. I think you have re-inspired me. Tamari ghani meherbani.
My Maid. Yegjaactly like yours, she is. Sometimes she will come at 10 sometimes at 45 mins past. Sach mein bhoot no bharoso. 😀
I’d like to think of myself as the clockwork ‘Cos limericking on your blog is Life’s big perk
Pun bhoot no bharoso muo hamaro dhobi
Bhastaigayo — etlo irregular, shamelessly
But he knows he’s needed — he smiles with a smirk!
BrantleyNewton: I don’t mind discrete sayings because I hope that way, spread across all the world’s cultures and languages, there are more unique ones to go around. 🙂
M: Chalo, ghanu majhenu. Ave jai ne lakho, ne pachhi link moklo. 😛
alice: 😀 Haha! My cleaner here has the opposite problem–she always shows up early!
Aunty G: Oh me, oh my!
The dhobi makes you cry?
I wish I could truly
Diligently and duly
Unleash on him a fie. 😡