Me Manohar Joshi boltoye8230;

Take Manohar Jawahar Joshi for instance, who has been in Pune for the past 40 years and is a well-known name not only amongst the medical fraternity but the general populace as well. Nevertheless, the surgeon suffers from an identity crisis now and then when he is compelled to clarify that, however well-known, he is not the Manohar Joshi.

8220;I happen to be the vice-president of the Ratnagiri Educational Society and had gone there once for the college8217;s golden jubilee celebrations, where the CM was the chief guest. So here we were, two Manohar Joshis on the same platform and had to be introduced as Manohar Joshi, the CM, and Manohar Joshi, the vice-president, raising laughs in the process. Often, even my patients ask me whether I am the CM and I have to patiently explain that if I were, I wouldn8217;t be there at the hospital treating them8221;!

For a resident of Sadashiv Peth, however, sharing the illustrious name has also made life a little more convenient. Especially in his dealings with the telephone department. Every time the phone is out of order, all Manohar A. Joshi has to do is call up and say, 8220;This is Manohar Joshi speaking,8221; and the department cracks into life. He discovered the importance of the name the first time he called up to register a complaint. 8220;I could hear them whisper among themselves 8211; Manohar Joshi is in town and his phone is not working.8217; The men arrived at my doorstep and rectified the phone in 10 minutes,8221; he recalls. And the same applies to his ticket bookings. 8220;I needed to book a ticket to Bangalore. All I had to say was, This is Manohar Joshi8217; and the ticket was booked in no time.8221; But politics does not interest this gentleman much. 8220;But you should see the faces of the election campaigners who come to my house during polling. Their reactions to my nameplateare hilarious8221;!

And it does get tempting to use the trump card of the name now and then. Says Dr. Manohar Vasant Joshi, 52 assistant director, National Institute of Virology, 8220;One morning, while going for work, there was a spot-check for driving licences. When the cop came to me, he asked me my name and I replied, Manohar Joshi.8217; He thought I was pulling a fast one and asked for my driving licence. When he glanced at it, he seemed confounded but then seeing the smile on my face, put two and two together and said, 8220;Maybe you are not him8230; but you can carry on. You could be a relative for all I know8221;!

Constantly ribbed as being the heavyweight around office, it is usually a pleasant surprise for Joshi when he gets a call intended for him. 8220;I am both a Ph.D and a veterinary doctor, but most of the time, the calls are either for a doctor for human beings or for someone wanting the CM,8221; he says.

Much like Manohar Yashwant Joshi of Prasad Prakashan, son of the well-known Marathi writer Y.G. Joshi, who goes for lectures and introduces himself as 8220;I am Manohar Joshi, who is not the CM!8221; Known popularly as Bapusaheb Joshi, he recollects the time the CM had come on an unexpected visit to the Ganesh temple in Sarasbaug. Being the chief trustee of the temple, he, too, had to rush to the temple to show the CM around. 8220;He was very impressed with the upkeep of the place and commented that I was doing my job well, to which I replied, Can Manohar Joshi ever not do a job well?8217; The CM had a hearty laugh at this8221;.

Interestingly, however, it8217;s not just today that the name is a heavyweight one. For Manohar Sadashiv Joshi, professor of English and Communication at the Ness Wadia College, the name elicited sufficient chaos as long back as 15 years ago. 8220;I had gone for an interview for the post of a teacher, and to my surprise, found the board members asking the questions in a very halting and hesitant manner. When I asked them what the matter was, one of them said, Well, you are a Shiv Sena leader, so we have to be careful of what we ask you8217;.8221; Not only did he get the job but it also prepared him for a series of such occasions of mistaken identity. 8220;Lots of people want to know whether we are related and I wish I could say yes.8217; Then many call up asking to be put through to the secretary to Manohar Joshi. Since I do not enjoy this privilege, I usually reply that she8217;s gone out8221;.

Known more popularly as Shyam Joshi, the professor is, in fact, in the process of drafting a letter to the CM, no, not with a request to change his name, but to ask for a place where he can display his rare collection of antique lamps collected over the past 30 years. 8220;I figure one Manohar Joshi may find it difficult to say no to another Manohar Joshi8221;!

For Manohar G. Joshi, retired manager from the Industrial Finance Corporation, who has gone into social work these days, sharing the name with the CM ,however, is a matter of pride. 8220;After all, I belong to the same clan,8221; he says. 8220;Every time I am announced in a office, people jump of their chairs to receive me.8221; Of course, the reactions are toned down considerably after they actually meet him, but the brief adulation is a great source of merriment. 8220;Every time I call up someone for work, I can imagine somebody jumping out of their chair,8221; he says. And for him, the experiences the CM went through in his younger days are quite similar to his own. 8220;I too had to struggle quite a bit in my younger days, therefore I have great regard for the CM and his achievements.8221; On that count, this Manohar Joshi goes back to his simple life that livens up every time he has to say on the phone 8220;Me Manohar Joshi boltoye8221;.

While Manohar Laxman Joshi, a manager at TELCO is one of the few for whom being the CM8217;s namesake has not meant much other than an occasional leg pulling session at the office, for Manohar Dattatrey Joshi, the coincidence has in fact resulted in unpleasant crank calls, as recently as a week ago. 8220;In the middle of the night we got these phone calls from a person who used bad language and then threatened my father with dire consequences,8221; recounts his son, a nervous Prasad Joshi. 8220;We don8217;t know for sure whether this is related to the name but there seems little other reason8221;.

Especially since this Manohar Joshi has been posted to Vidarbha since the past couple of months as assistant director, Animal Husbandry. By and large however most of the Manohar Joshis take the coincidence in their stride, more inclined towards seeing the lighter side of it all. 8220;I feel good and get a lot of mock respect from my colleagues,8221; smiles Manohar Ganesh Joshi a senior production manager at Shirke Structurals Private Ltd even as Manohar Gopal Joshi a typist in Kothrud feels it has not made any difference to him one way or the other.

Which is presumably natural. For what8217;s in sharing a name and vicarious fame after all? Had it been fate too, then we would have been talking. Right Mr CM?