Adda (South Asian)

• In Hindi, adda is a noun, with the nominal form of the word meaning the location or nest of a group or community, usually shady people. The etymology can be traced to the original meaning of the word, which means the "perching spot or perch for birds".
• In Bengali, adda is both a standalone noun and a noun in a noun - verb compound. The nominalization of the word has two senses - one being the Hindi sense, and the other being the place of ritual meeting and/or conversation of a group of people. The verb form means informal conversation among a group of people, often for hours at an end, and usually accompanied by food. The Bengali institution of the adda has also been the subject of recent scholarly attempts to reconstruct alternative histories of modernity in South Asia.