“The line is virtually untranslatable. ‘Amlette’ is Hindi for ‘omlette’. This is what makes the Hindi rendition of ‘Hamlet’ so funny. And “Tere bap ka bhoot” only means “Your father’s ghost” but is idiomatically hilarious in Hindi.”

One of our dormitory mates was Preminder Maliah, whose claim to fame was that he had seen Kishore Sahu’s Hindi version of Hamlet. After lights out, he would regale us with stories of Hamlet’s friends calling out from the ramparts as the clock struck midnight: ‘Arre, Aamlette, Aamlette, tera baap ka bhoot!’ [do1] At which we would cower in our bedclothes shivering with fright until someone called for my imaginary cricket commentary.

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