పాలకు వచ్చి ముంత దాచినట్లు.

palaku vachchi munta dachinatlu.

Translation

Like coming for milk but hiding the vessel.

Meaning

This proverb is used to describe a person who approaches someone for help or with a specific purpose but hesitates to speak their mind or hides their true intentions due to shyness, false pride, or unnecessary secrecy. It highlights the irony of wanting something while being too secretive to ask for it.

Related Phrases

Like the mongoose who did a good deed but met with danger.

This expression is used to describe a situation where someone's good intentions or helpful actions result in a misunderstanding or negative consequences for them. It originates from the Panchatantra story where a pet mongoose saves a baby from a snake, but is killed by the mother who mistakenly thinks the mongoose harmed the child.

Why hide the pot when you have come for buttermilk?

This proverb is used to criticize someone who is hesitant or secretive about their true intentions after already making a move. It suggests that if you have approached someone for a specific favor or purpose, there is no point in being shy or hypocritical about it. It is commonly applied when someone tries to hide an obvious motive.

Like coming for buttermilk but hiding the pot.

This proverb describes someone who visits for a specific purpose or favor but tries to hide their true intention out of false modesty or hesitation. It is used to point out hypocrisy or the awkwardness of being indirect when the need is obvious.

Begging for milk and hiding his cup.

This expression is used to describe a situation where someone approaches another person for help or a favor but is too hesitant, shy, or secretive to state their actual need. It highlights the irony of intending to ask for something while concealing the very tool or reason needed to receive it.

Poverty and pride.

Giving away the cow but hiding the tethering rope.

This proverb refers to a situation where someone performs a major act of generosity or completes a significant task, but ruins it or holds back on a very small, trivial detail. It is used to describe a person who is 'penny wise and pound foolish' or someone who makes a large sacrifice but shows pettiness regarding a minor related matter.

Coming for buttermilk and hiding the pot.

This proverb refers to a situation where someone approaches another person with a specific request or goal but is too hesitant, shy, or secretive to state their true intention. It describes the irony of seeking help or a favor while trying to hide the very vessel needed to receive it. It is used to advise someone to be straightforward instead of being unnecessarily evasive.

Have you come to eat or to visit the shrine ?

This expression is used to question a person's priorities or motives when they seem more interested in superficial benefits (like food) rather than the primary purpose or spiritual significance of an event (like receiving holy water at a temple). It is often used to chide someone who is distracted by secondary perks.

When marriage comes, or vomiting, it cannot be stopped.

This proverb is used to indicate that certain events in life are inevitable and beyond human control once they are set in motion. Just as a physical urge like vomiting cannot be suppressed, significant life events like marriage will happen when the time is right, regardless of attempts to delay or stop them.

Why hide the pot after coming for buttermilk?

This proverb is used when someone tries to be evasive or shy about their real intention even after approaching someone for help. It suggests that if you have already come to ask for something, there is no point in being secretive or hesitant about it; you should be direct and transparent about your needs.

Coming to beg buttermilk and hiding the cup.

This proverb refers to a person who approaches someone for help or a favor but is too hesitant, shy, or deceitful to state their true intention. It describes a situation where someone acts with false modesty or lacks the transparency needed to achieve their goal, much like someone visiting a neighbor to ask for buttermilk while trying to hide the vessel they brought to collect it in.

Pride with poverty. Pride and poverty are ill met yet often together.