Hindi or Telugu expression of parental disappointment

[gallo_de_pelea]

I'm making a comic with a main character who is the American-born first son of Indian immigrants. English, Telugu, some Urdu, and some Hindi are spoken around the home

Comments

[pakaboori]

err what did he do to disappoint them? something like, "arrey, beta," or "chi chi, beta" would be common to hear as expressions of exasperation or disapproval, but that's kind of conversational, chiding rather than complaining...

maybe something like "what all haven't we done for you?" (which would mean about the same as "after all we've done for you") - "tere liye kya kuch ne kiye?" (my grammar might be off. i'm south asian canadian, but my knowledge of hindi and urdu are second hand, from family friends and tv) (also not a question actually meant to be answered!)

[pakaboori]

oh right: arrey, beta = sort of, "come on, son"; "chi chi, beta" = sort of, "son, that's dirty/shameful/wrong"

[gallo_de_pelea]

Thanks!
He just recently came out to his family, which would have caused a big rift anyway, but it happened in a pretty explosive way, which made things worse.

[avanti_90]

I'd say 'chi, chi' is pretty mild for such a scenario. I can totally picture 'what haven't we done for you', though. Slight grammar correction - it's 'tere liye kya kuch nahi kiya'. All this is hindi, btw.

[gallo_de_pelea]

Thanks! I think that might work. His dad speaks Hindi more often than Telugu, and he's the one taking it worse. (His mom isn't OK with it by any means, but...)

FWIW, MC is saying the best case scenario probably involves a lot of being chastised for being selfish, and the worst case means being cut out of the family.