Name game

Coming across a name like 8216;Whatmore8217; on the sports page sent me back in time. As a young doctor in the late seventies in Pondy now Puduchery I used to be amused by the ingenious names poor folk gave their children. When astronauts landed on the moon, slum children, until then named after Ambedkar, Nehru and Bose, began to be named after 8216;Armstrong8217;. One day a US space station came crashing down and one rustic women chose to christen their offspring 8216;Skylab8217;!

One couple named their son 8216;Inbavazhvu8217; happy life. He happened to be the first born. The second was named 8216;Rendusamy8217; godly second. After a break of seven years, came a third: 8216;Ithu Podhum8217; this is enough!. I sometimes wonder if that kid really went through life carrying this cross of a name or got it changed at an opportune moment!Sometimes names are anachronistic. A dark-skinned tribal was named Vellasamy fair god and a guy given to explosive outbursts was named 8216;Shanthan8217; peaceful one. 8216;Purushothaman8217; a sage was actually a drunkard. 8216;Veerabhadran8217; courageous one was an anxious chap with social phobias and a recluse of the first order. 8216;Vijayan8217; successful one was a failure in all his school examinations!

Nowadays I find it difficult to pigeon hole people by their names. Anitha could be Hindu or Christian. In my area, I am often amazed to find Muslim girls with names like 8216;Bindu8217;, 8216;Adheera8217;, and so on. 8216;Muthu8217; pearl and 8216;Babu8217; are names that cut across lines of caste and creed. But some take the principle to extremes. A Catholic friend named his daughter 8216;Lakshmi8217;, while a local Muslim teacher has a daughter called 8216;Nancy8217; , who had to face a lot of hassles because of it.

Last week a woman who attempted suicide was brought to me for an evaluation. As a child deserted by her father, she grew up in an orphanage facing immense hardship, then in her teens was molested and later wedded to a widower. She then bore his child and was soon deserted by him. I asked her what her name was. Turned out to be 8216;Bhagyavathi8217; lucky one. So much for the relevance of names!