“‘Chikkotee’ culled from?”

With reference to "‘Chikkotee’ culled from?” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, June 7, 2006, December 7, 2006 and January 7, 2007), I wish to inform interested readers that I, too, as a schoolboy have given and received ‘chikkotees.’ And so, for the edification of Bhikhaji Adenwalla, Rusi Dotiwala and others I write to provide proof of the real origin and meaning of this word.

"Chikkotee” means "pinch” (see Kamal’s Hindi-English Oxford Pocket Dictionary).” It is a Hindi word and strangely a noun with a feminine gender!

ADI F. MERCHANT