Name is important

Needless to say I am unhappy today. My name got corrupted. By none other than the Bank who issued me the credit card several years back. When I see the credit card statement for this month, all the numbers look just fine, those huge spendings are crystal clear to me. But at the top of the statement my name Sundaresh ominously lost its all-important and sweetest alphabet at the beginning, I became a dull Undaresh ! My name lost all its beauty. Probably in their computer name-database the number of names with the alphabet S would have exceeded max quota, the computer would have mercilessly dropped the first character of my name to accommodate it! It’s quite possible, max quota would have exceeded, names of many of us start with S thanks to Sanskrit language anything starts with S has to be good!   But I decided not to waste my energy to call them up and get it corrected. After all it’s me who owe them money and not otherwise, why should I worry much!

I am sure some of us don’t like our names itself, forget about getting it corrupted. But as such we don’t have a choice, right? By the time we realise that the name chosen and given carefully by our parents does not taste good for us, it is too late. If at all one decides to change it altogether, complex processes need to be followed to get it changed in umpteen number of documents, he can be pretty busy for a few years to get that in order. So we choose to live with that ugly, old-fashioned name for ever! And rest assured, next generation will be in the same state of affairs !

My folks back in home town they have nick names for families. One reason for that could be, centuries back when our ancestors migrated from the north to the southern part of the country, they did not have any land or place of their own, no clear identity. Invariably every other child would have had a name Srinivas or Padmavathy depending upon the gender of the child. It would have been extremely difficult to identify somebody only by his/her original name, they needed something more to make it unique. So the nicknames emerged, probably based on some incident happened in that family. For example we have “Bayle Chabbillo Bhottu”  ( a Bhat who had bitten his wife!! ), I am pretty sure one of the members of this family would have bitten his wife in anger, that too in public! There is another family with a bit modern and English nick name “Pipe Water”. I am not sure how that name emerged, it could have been this family would have received first the pipe water connection from the municipal authorities. 

There are many funny names like that, no family is spared! It is not fair if I don’t mention my family nick name, it is “Chivney”! Chivney in Konkani has two meanings – one a small rat, two  lamp cover of a conventional lantern. I am still struggling to find out how this name had been arrived, looking at the traits of current generation in my family there are no visible clues that lead to fact that we used to behave badly like a rat. Neither there is any proof that my ancestors used to sell lamp covers. But one thing is sure, if I go to my home town to identify myself,  the best way to do is by saying “I am son of Vamana who belongs to  Chivney family “. 

Like many others Vamana, my father was also proud of his name at least till his tenth class , according to his own words. He was sitting in the History class taken up by none other than the tough, never smiling Hanumantacharya, the head master of the school. Hanumantacharya was extremely strict, those days he was as powerful as district magistrate! Students used to be scared of him, one minor mistake, the punishment was severe, one might be out of school. He believed in using a sledgehammer to crack even a small nut! That day the portion was on a bit of Portuguese history and he was explaining the achievements of Alfonso de Albuquerque, the great Portuguese general, the empire builder.  When he pronounced the general’s complicated name, Vamana, my father could not resist giggling hearing that funny name. Hanumantacharya caught him laughing, he asked my father to stand up. My father thought his academic career was over.  “What’s your name? “asked the strict Head master. My father replied feebly “Vamana”! The never-smiling headmaster roared and roared of laughter. Then he said “This is the way the Portuguese people would laugh when they hear your funny name, Vamana, you can sit now” !!

Surely, there is logic in arriving in every name, there is a purpose behind naming in a particular way. Whether it is for a person, family, building, scheme or society. And it is up to us to understand the importance of that name and make it more meaningful, exciting as much as possible. And also respect it by trying to understand and call it correctly, else it may not be well received by the other party. I will be the last person to get delighted when somebody calls me and says “Good morning sir, Am I speaking to Mr. Undaresh?”. I will hang up the phone then and there, without taking the pains to correct the caller that I am actually Sundaresh. Another two such calls, I might be asking the bank to cancel my credit card, I have many more from other banks in my wallet. If needed I can get a few more cards in a week’s time with my correct, sweet, meaningful name on them, to spend more as I wish!