I am reminded of Shakespeare’s iconic quote from Romeo and Juliet “What’s in a Name? That which we call a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet!” The storm in a tea cup this time around is not because this name business has anything to do with humans or flowers but with the animal kingdom and that too with the First Couple of the Jungle, a pair of Lion and Lioness, although technically as of now they are the First Couple of the Siliguri Zoo. Mind you the name of the town being Siliguri has nothing to do with the silliness of the objection raised by some ultra zealous zealots, the Empress in question is ordained Sita and the Emperor is Akbar. That is sacrilege, and with such names it is an invite for the “Love Jihad” making its maiden foray in the animal kingdom as well.
Juliet in her naivete innocently enquired thus when Romeo’s Montague antecedents, and the implications thereof explained to her. Any other name would be ok, but then if Romeo was not a Montague we would have been deprived of this epic by Shakespeare. I would go on to say that love would probably not be the same if we did not have Romeo-Juliet and their desi avatars Heer-Ranjha. After all the lovers would not have anyone to swear by and look upto as their ideals in this amorous venture. Juliet in her soliloquy puts it across so succinctly, Romeo which is not hand or foot or arm or face or any other part belonging to a man. So Akbar the Lion is just a Lion and the name has no bearing on his being a Lion, it could have been anything. Incidentally until very recently wives took on the surname of the husband after the betrothal, the practice is on the wane amongst the elites, hoi-polloi though continue with the tradition. In many communities in India the first name of the bride is also changed by the in-laws, obviously they had either not read Shakespeare or chose to ignore it being a foreign idea.
Indians have naming ceremony, the “Namkaran samskara” as one of the sixteen samskaras mandated in Hinduism and unlike the West where they have an acute shortage of names, as is evident by their choosing the names of their fathers/grandfathers/grandmothers by merely suffixing the Second or Third or simply Junior. So we have George HW Bush Senior and George W Bush Junior, Elizabeth I & II and now of course King Charles I II & III. In India post independence the names were generally after the freedom fighters, then Bollywood took over gradually and Vijay after Amitabh Bachhan’s screen name and Rahul after Sharukh’s became very popular. Although of late Rahul is not sought after as the other Rahul has not yet come of age. These days the youngsters resort to finding the most difficult name as long as it is unique and different, so we have the latest one to join the bandwagon “Akaya” the second progeny of “Virushka”.
But we have digressed, this imbroglio of Sita and Akbar can be resolved by resorting to “nom de guerre”, an assumed name under which a person or Lion/lioness engage in combat or some other activity(!). I think Romeo-Juliet or Heer Ranjha is quite appropriate, any takers……
Original Comments:
Unknown (2019-02-11):
Nice one Su. The 'Yash' will follow…. Knoty
Unknown (2019-02-12):
Good
Shiv (2019-02-12):
Suyash…very witty as usual but equally well researched. Enjoyed reading your tryst with name calling !! Hope I could get it right everytime we interacted
C SPrabhakat (2019-02-12):
Great blog Suyash. Enjoyed reading it
Akshaya Handa (2019-02-12):
Interesting
Would have added my saga to it.
Having named me Akshaya (a tongue twister in itself and cause of why hardly anyone addresses me as such) an additional A was added in the end. Apparently based on the Sanskrit concept of the consonant never ending without a vowel (and cause of Ram becoming Rama, Ashok becoming Ashoka) explaining its existence has been a constant battle for me. While most of the people stick to Akshay some other variants include Akshaye, Akshe & Akshey. Oh well I guess there's nothing in a name but then getting it to match your aadhar card can sometimes be as troublesome as getting your face to match your photo on it.
Anonymous (2019-02-12):
Another advantage of having a unique name is that there is no confusion else in a class there are usually number of Rahul and Anjali after DDLJ
Sanjay (2019-02-12):
Su Yash….. good with fame……
Thank God ….I checked before posting……See what the spell check advises…..U will be surprised
Anonymous (2019-02-12):
Suyash
By staying unique all along, you have vindicated the wishes of your parents.
Happy blogging.
DM
Glad Gladiator (2019-02-12):
Even I went through this process! My name Aditya Singhal became Shingal, Single, Aditaya!! Even today… Some people called me Shingal even today!
Aditya became Adi more anglicized version!!!
Anonymous (2019-02-12):
A witty piece.. enjoyed reading it ..as always..it forces me to think as to how ..I have handled names in my life ..to make them well unique I turned them into tongue twisters
.. wondering may be it is time to add one two three after the names as we do with email addresses …say Khanna one and sons named as Khanna two and Khanna three..
After all great dynasties did that..
Or maybe we can keep life simple like old panjabi families…papu titoo chinny munnu or maybe what my parents lovingly called me… Tunnu…ha ha..uunique it was..well
What's in a name
Sofie (2019-02-12):
Nice…witty…liked it Suyash!!
Unknown (2019-02-12):
Well written sir! I would like to wish you Su Yash not only while blogging, but also in your career.
Sunil V Damle (2019-02-12):
Well written Suyash, enjoyed reading it
Abhijat (2019-02-12):
Very interesting and witty read! Indeed, 'originality' and 'uniqueness' are essential prerequisites to 'good fame' 😛
Amit Tripathi (2019-02-12):
Suyash your musings are rubbing on others in a positive way. More bloggers joining the bandwagon.
Keep blogging.
KPM Das (2019-02-12):
This is close to the heart for a fauji (in the nametab??), really. And surnames can add twists and turns too…..8 Jan 1975, filling up forms at the NDA, and when asked to fill in a surname I said I had none (where I came from it was infra-dig to display caste and surnames)….seriously, the clerk asked, I said yes. What followed was murder. That name which I carried all my school years and which was given by doting parents and all the rest of them was split down the middle without even a "by your leave" from the Academy……..the name on the I card then stuck for life; did try and make some feeble but vain attempts to apply for a change of name during early subaltern years……looking back, it helped. A short name, just three alphabets and saved me the blushes of friends messing around pronouncing an otherwise long mallu name….
Anand (2019-02-12):
“” I think I was probably the only homo sapien with such a name. Yash was quite common but a mere prefix of “Su” went on to qualify the fame “”——-Fame ,Name,Glory sab mil gaya,baaki ke liye kuch chod do ����
Aries (2019-02-12):
Interesting reading, Suyash. I empathise.
Regards,
Aries, Aris, Haris, Aryan, Aires and Arse.
Unknown (2019-02-12):
Wonderful blog! And I can so empathize given the added complications with non-Indian pronounciations for ‘Avani’
Col Jitendra Singh (2019-02-12):
Superb. Well written Suyash. It was an interesting reading. A good research on naming.
Arjun Israni@comcast.net (2019-02-12):
Dear Suyash, phenomenal article, very creative and hilarious. Laughed my head out. Thanks
Arjun Israni, Fellow Rimcollian in California, USA.
Sujay (2019-02-12):
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sujay (2019-02-12):
One more interesting and hillarious Blog .Minimum knowledge I could understand that "it is all in the Name".
Sheraz Varma (2019-02-13):
So you've had your Piscine Molitor Patel moments.. ..and knowing you ,you'd have made sure the value of Pi was known to the Hoi Polloi… Only this time it'd be the value of Su-Yash 35 (Sukhoi) … You've written from the heart and the ink has pumped through them Auricles to spill Aurum
AtulBeret (2019-02-14):
Good (Su) Yash!
Jatinder Singh Dhillon (2019-02-15):
Great sir. At least I could pronounce your name correctly. Hope you will vouch for that. Even I was named after the famous yesteryear star Jitender but as Jatinder to give a Punjabi touch so to say…..
Bhuppy Sharma (2019-03-06):
Excellent read.. Name – Though you're not born with it , but carry it to your grave.. Well written Soyuz
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Beautiful Suyash. Ashutosh
Sofie (2024-02-21):
Such shenanigans provide satirical & comic relief. Its a matter almost as worthy as the debate between the Little-Endians and Big-Endians (Gulliver's Travels fame).
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Nice read
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Well written. Enjoyed reading it
Nilabh (2024-02-21):
Nicely penned down.
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
All is in a name these days with Panditji’s gutting their terms of reference after all planning has been done . With numerology the naming exercise has become a bit more intricate .
The current fashion of calling persons by abbreviated names has made names like Randhir a no no .
A nice subject and wonderful write up again Suyash . Keep them coming !!
Sudhir (2024-02-21):
Abhijat (2024-02-21):
Very funny take! The quest for unique names for babies in this generation has gone to such an extent that the names no longer need to mean anything, or be easy to pronounce (as with Elon Musk's progeny) !! I imagine that is not as much of a problem for the parents, as for the kids when they have to grow up and explain it to their peers. When it comes to naming animals, maybe we can resolve the issue by starting a numerological naming convention, such as Sher I and Sherni I 😛
M K Choudhary (2024-02-21):
Heartiest congratulations Suyash on your 201st Blog. Truly commendable
S.K. Dwivedi (2024-02-21):
Quite interesting blog that deserves all praise. The only name that I remember is Sita Ram.
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Naming
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Innocent naming accidents do take place in life. Son Ashish used to call himself 'Ashik Balma' as a tinytot & used to wonder why it amused everyone!! Beautifully highlighted the silliness that human beings can rise to.. Moorkhta ka dauraa kahin bhee prastut ho sakti hai…..
Suresh Yadav (2024-02-21):
Like Father You know how to play with words . Great
Suresh Yadav (2024-02-21):
Excellent Write up as usual . Keeps you engrossed . Congrats
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Sir, very well written
Dr. Vivek Mathur Ph.D. Sports Medicine (2024-02-21):
Wonderful content…..Thanks for sharing.
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Humorous …… yet thought provoking
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Enjoyed and smiled while reading
Anonymous (2024-02-21):
Enjoyed reading
Avneesh (2024-02-22):
Excellent articulation
BS Bisht (2024-02-22):
Nice n interesting.Your litrary skills are almost matching that of William Shakespeare Suyash.Nice anecdote..
Brig vinod tandon (2024-02-22):
Congratulations on 201st post. Today google is most sought to name newly borns
Rohit Mehrotra (2024-02-24):
Compliments on churning out another Masterpiece – your 201st Post.
Brilliant writing as always. Enjoyed reading. All the Best.
Danny (2024-02-25):
Name is the name of the game. Low-hanging fruit. Our cities and now even the country which was always Bharat (the application to have the world call our own ocean the Bharatiya Ocean is being drafted).
Now the mane issue with names. Zoos could also do with some polarization, right? Are we getting really really weepy and touchy?
Rajesh Chaba (2024-02-25):
Nice subtle humour Suyash.
Vipul Segan (2024-02-26):
Nice write up
Enjoyed reading it
Sanjeev Pandit (2024-02-27):
A wonderful blog !
Anonymous (2024-03-02):
Beautifully written Sir. Looking fwd to read more