Bhaisaab Isaac NewtonThe word ‘Bhaisaab‘ is very common in Kuwait [in general Arab world] to call anyone who looks like an Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi. The word is from Indian sub-continent and is made up of two words Bhai and Saab. Bhai means brother and saab means sir.But the word saab itself is a mis-pronounciation of saheb or sahab. The meaning is still the same ‘Sir‘. So why does every non-indian,non-pakisatani,non-bagladeshi uses this to call the attention? Well its quite common in India to use this word as a form of great respect. Its actually used for referring to an elder brother or someone you would consider as an elder brother. Somehow this word was introduced in the vocabulary of Kuwaitis and other Arabs by the people who came in from the Indian subcontinent. As I am from Indian subcontinent myself, it does make me smirk whenever I hear someone using this word.

But from my experience I have seen bhaisaab being used more often to call the attention of helpers, waiters in Indian restaurants, drivers, cabbies. Seems they finally get some respect knowingly or unknowingly. So can people also start calling the household maids with similar calls? Well in case you are wondering what would I call an elder sister, it would be Behen but that would too traditional, instead you can use the word ‘madam‘ which is more related to the word bhaisaab in terms of weight and respect!