We could all do with more tamasha in our lives

It’s true, but I didn’t know it until last Friday when I heard the word for the first time. I was listening to an item on the Today programme, BBC Radio 4 about how 20-20 cricket has become such a huge success in India. It’s pulling massive audiences and they’re not just the usual suspects. The new cricket format is attracting whole families to come and watch the game and the correspondent put its success down to the fact that 20-20 cricket delivers so much ‘tamasha’.

Now there’s no direct translation of this word into English, so he memorably described it as ’something that involves loads of fun, fiesta, adventure’. What a concept! And why don’t we have a word for that in English? It sounds like just what you need at the end of a hard week. In fact, armed with the concept I went straight out next day and found plenty of tamasha at the Taste of Edinburgh festival – Ash and I had a great day of culinary adventure with live music and sunny socialising that lead to an impromptu cocktail bar safari (read posh pub crawl) with friends.

English has some notable gaps in the language in my experience. Take the German word ‘gemutlich’. It seems to mean cosy, welcoming, cheery – as you might describe a ginger-bread house-ish mountain bothy for skiers – but we just haven’t got anything to match it and fall back on lame terms like ‘nice’. The French have got ’sympathique’ and in Danish it’s ‘hoogeh’ (sounds like).

Then what do we say in English to match ‘bon appetit’ or ‘guten appetit’? ‘Enjoy your meal’ makes you sound like a trainee waiter.

It’s no wonder English has such a large vocabulary and it’s growing all the time. I’m all in favour of pulling in words where there’s a gap, particularly if they define something that can lift your spirits. And now that I know it’s got so much tamasha to offer, I can’t wait to see some 20-20 cricket!