In this day and age where we live virtually and have our identities carved by the names that are given , the trend is to have small syllable names ,more exotic the better and the roots are Persian or Islamic and sometimes just plain funny . In olden times , our names used to be kept by a pandit or a Bhaiji and that too after an elaborate naming ceremony where the alphabet would be taken from a specific religious line that came in regards to the child . This is too old fashioned and archaic for the times today and has been discontinued or manipulated to keep a foot in both time ; old and new. However, my village is still stuck in the old ages where name are kept the ones they proudly display on the Aadhar card but there are parallel names that are the real identity. The names all have such interesting history behind them , a Bladder , Phunny , Lutta , Latan , Tunda , Dhunda , Nehri. Titu the vakeel, D C , bola 26.
In a world where we are label each other as being as fair or dark , thin or fat , names are kept on what they are , and they stick as glue . Bladder is a milkman , and the story goes when his mother was pregnant with him , she was sewing footballs , hence the name bladder for him . She was the fastest , quickest worker , and the name was in english. Phunny because , he was fun loving when he went to school , and he used to crack jokes , it’s a different story that he is now a poker faced old man in hi slate 70’s now. Lutta is our handyman , with green fingers and when he was born to Aziz the tractor driver everything was lost , hence lutt Gaya .
Latan , was the biggest land allottee of the area , she had the largest piece of land to her name and was the terror of the district !
Tunda and Dunda became grand fathers but their names were because of the body deformities .. I cant even begin to tell you about the ladies. Each has a particular name that was synonymous to her because of her youth and her nature . DC , Nehri are all names because of their quick wit and style of working.
In an age where we are worried about labels of being fat , ugly , dark or fair of tall or short or body shaming is done, these names are more realistic and grounded .I grew up reading Shakespeare and the cheesy lines boys would use trying to impress girls, ‘A rose by any other name would smell sweet “ . The reference is used to state that the names of things do not affect what they really are . We all strive for perfection and Romeo would still be the same if his name was any different .
Today’s world we are all trying to be something else because of unreal standards set by a world that doesn’t exist and is computer generated , or is a fantasy algorithm.I’m surrounded and am also guilty sometimes where it is kinder to have a filter sometimes , as we all like to be fair , have a chiseled face or have the trendy name . We don’t make them simple anymore , the cultural shift has happened where we are choosing unique names to be individual , to be different , and to be non conformist . This is to carve an identity , to foresee or to hope that an unique sounding name would make for a better life in the future . Apparently , an increase in common names meant of that generation correlated to the lower unemployment rates on both national and state levels.
This shift ,transition will see names like Narinder , Jatinder and Balbir be replace d by Nitika , Kashvi and Nyra … who would you call for an interview ? The names to shock in the west area different story ! Till then , I hope my name aka Biji stays .and , would you date a Kiara or a Kavita ?
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