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Misnomer of names
Hi Kelly! Somebody called out my name – that was my nickname. I looked around for the caller but drew blank stares back from all those around. It happens sometimes; you hear things which are never said. That is okay. What is bothersome is when you are called names. This happens as a matter of routine on our roads. The auto fellow always cuts across your car from the left and when you glare at him, he calls you names. In the halted traffic you hear him call you all what you are not and you have nowhere to look, all the while knowing he is calling you names! You probably do not know enough ‘names’ in the appropriate language for a fitting callback. What surprised me the first time in such a situation is that there were no heads turned. Nobody looked at me in askance and I did not receive sympathetic glances either. Then I realised that all of those people present may have also been called names many times. Today I too do not blush or get angry when the auto fellow or anybody else calls me names! What is in a name after all!
The other day my daughter told me that nobody calls her by her real name. It is either the pet name, given by parents, or the nickname given by her friends. People are given pet names and pets are given people’s name. Some years back I read somewhere that Amir calls his dog Sharukh. What is in a name after all!
We have the autochap, barthanwali, ironwallah, sabjiwallah, cablewallah and a whole lot of otherwallahs. That is how probably names like Daruwala, Dotiwala, Batliwala et al originated. How does it matter what name was given to the rediwallah by his parents as long we can buy stuff from his redi (handcart). A name is just a name after all! What is in it?
“Hey you”, “Koi hain”, ‘Hello there’, “Bhaisaab” are all such common names to which a multitude of people respond in various situations. What is in name after all?
Johnnie means many different things to different people. But Johnnie Walker invokes memories of another day, besides the unique taste of Black Label. “sun sun sun, arrey beta sun, is champi mein bade bade gun….” ……the combination of this eulogizing the “tel malish” and the effervescent portrayal of the masseur by our own comedian Johnnie Walker is eternally embedded in many Indian minds. I am sure it is this famous name of the unique tipple which inspired Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi born to a mill worker in Indore to adopt this name for the screen. True to the original JW the actor was something special on screen.
The competition to Johnnie boy for popularity came from VAT 69. Despite the name it is not a vatted malt but a blend of about 40 malt and grain whiskeys. Besides this whisky was at first bottled in Port bottles. I was in Bombay on the New Year Day, 1969. The front page of the Times of India, Bombay edition carried a picture of this unique VAT 69 bottle but with a different label. The label read “WHAT 69”. That was precisely my question on that day – what 69, if I do not get into the National Defence Academy? Because I thought that after getting into NDA I am made for life. As it turned out, I did and it has been a wonderful life thus far.
Whiskys are the falvour of the day. ‘Teachers’ scotch whisky is one f them. This is highland cream blend with a ‘sermonious’ name. The alternate is Black Dog. The name was introduced by its owner an expert salmon fisherman in honour of his favourite fishing fly, Black Dog! So, what is in a name?
A Whisky tastes as good or as bad whatever the name.
The big test for my name was when I joined NDA. Firstly, a lot of my batch mates were annoyed with my name, what with having to spell it at the drop of a hat or get punished. I was down in the dumps to have annoyed those who would be my friends until Ratnakumar CVSS joined our ranks. My name was a lot easier. But yet I was called by many names, though nobody called me names. It was the effervescent Kuru Hasang (May he rest in peace) a dear friend, who christened me Kelly. Hailing from Arunchal Pradesh, he of course could not pronounce any portion of my name legibly. ‘KL’ was tried and discarded for its rigidity. ‘Vish’ sounded too subtle and hopeful and we were not in those early days of training supposed to exhibit ‘hope’ publicly. It was about that time probably we watched Clint Eastwood in the movie ‘Kelly’s Heroes’. Whatever! Kuru Hasang called me ‘Kelly’. The name stuck in the Academies in such a manner that many of my batch mates even now possibly do not know my real name
What the heck. The bard was right after all. What is in a name?