What’s in a name you ask ehh?? – Well loads of fun

It’s been just over 5 days that I have been in Chennai, but whenever it come to talking about the places here, the names of the different places sound way too funny. Living in Bombay (yes guys I still prefer calling it Bombay not Mumbai n Madras not Chennai which btw also sounds funny) I am used to names like Bandra, Churchigate, Marine lines, Charkop, Chandivili, Borivili to name a few; these name sound so happening n normal to me – pun every much intended. Now let’s look at some of the name here – Tiruvanmiyur, Gummidipoondi, Sullurpeta, Chengalpattu; etc and the funniest for me till now – Guindy (not sure if I spelt this rite!). I am sure half or rather all my north Indian friends will not be able to pronounce even one name in above list. In Bombay we have beautiful names like Andheri (which in Hindi literally mean darkness..recollect the song ‘Andheri raato mein’ from ‘Shahensha’) not to forget CST – now what was the full form of CST??????? Well I think it just a matter of getting used to the names; but it sure is fun when you come to a new city and hear place there.

Well that’s about place, let’s talk about human name (at times inhuman!!!!!! )
In south India, the general tendency is to name the kids with God’s name.. live e.g. me “Lakshmi” (now while we are at it - it is “Lakshmi” and not “Laxmi”) . It seems my name is my great – grandmother’s name but the fact is that most south Indians love to name their kids with Godly name (probably hoping that they have some good qualities). In my family we have – Parvathy, Sreedevi, Lakshmi, Arjun and ‘n’ forms of Krishna – Ramakrishnan, Jayakrishnan, Muralidharan, Krishna, Krishnan, Haridas, Srinath….. (well come to think of it all the guys in my mum's side family are some or the other form of Krishna / Vishnu). When I reached Madras my aunt called me and asked “Have the wives of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva moved in together?” (I am staying with Parvathy). One morning Rita (my friend in LnT) was telling that she has decided to take my name early in the morning at least around 10 times – her logic ????She says chanting “Lakshmi Ramakrishnan“ probably will her get some ‘punya’, after all it does cover 3 Gods !!!!!

Now-a-days it’s the fashion for hifi names. This I would say is the biggest setback due to the Internet. Most of our generation couple hunt on the Internet for a ‘different’ name for their kid.. to cite a few e.g. Suri, Aidan, Anana (or was that banana). The first question generally after hearing such a name is how the heck to you pronounce them and the next thing is what does it mean. At the back of our mind we think ‘Lord what a weird name.. poor kiddo’

One generation back there was a huge trend to name the kids as a combination of the mother and fathers' name. Mum’s Lisa, Dad’s Joseph – then kid is Lijo – you get my point, right? I am glad my name was not “Sura” or “Rasu”. Imagine Rash was named “Rasu” and I was named “Sura”. Look around you may still find victim of such combi names! My friend in hex used to tell me that at first he used to find it every odd to call out to me cause it felt ancient! But again I am glad that my name is far better than many I have come across. The other I came across a name Sitalakshmi – wives of 2 gods in 1 (ek pe ek free offer!), another one was “pachepazham” (Pache mean green/ raw and pazham mean fruit / banana). Oh boy! I really wonder how did his parents come up with such a name. The other day my friend Amibika was telling that she loves the name “Paris” so we went ahead and suggested to name her kid “Delhi”, “Agra” or maybe “London” :)

In the north, especially Sikh Punjabi names, you can’t be too sure if it’s a boy or a girl. A name Kawaljeet can be a boy or a girl. Same is the case with names like Kiran, Madhu, etc. Basically even though I feel that my name is ancient ------ I am glad I am “Lakshmi” or "Laksh" for some of my special friends!