What's in the name?

“You have got a perfect name, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Said her father reassuringly. For Aomame her name had been a constant point of botheration of her school life. Not only it always came first – as it started from A – but it also made her classmates as well as teachers burst into a fit of laughter as they tried to pronounce it.

Clearly, a name lifted from a towering Japanese author’s intriguing work of fiction 1Q84 – did not go that well for a small town girl in India. However, her father had been an iconoclast – and followed his rebel heart while naming his daughter. The fact that she lost her mother, right at her birth, also might have been one of the reasons his father could have his own way and gave her a name that she would grow to resent.

As years passed she grew more and more uncomfortable with her name. Ideas to change it several times crossed her mind but every time the effort of changing all the documents that are attached to oneself seemed too much.

“What were you thinking when you finalized my name?”  “Had you seen the movie namesake a night before I was born?”  “If mom were there, she would have never approved of such an out of place name.” Thus ran her frequent angry arguments with her dad. Her dad used to calmly reply, every time that her name was kept after the name of a heroine of a wonderful novel and that the character was very powerful. He even suggested she reads the book, however, the size of the book daunted her and she never picked it up.

Years passed, not easily for Aomame- at every juncture, every new meeting, she would feel shortchanged when introducing herself. It was as if, she was pulled back at the start of a sprint by a good few yards! Her frustration only grew with her age.

She eventually married a guy her father had chosen for her. Once during their conversation, he innocuously asked, “what does you name mean, by the way?” – She retorted harshly asking him not to repeat this question ever again. “My name is a part of my life that I don’t want to share with anyone, so please don’t ever ask my anything about it again.”

Her husband was taken aback by this vehement response, he realized that this was perhaps a result of anger accumulated over the years and needed a different treatment. He resolved that he will do something that will make her love and remember her name fondly.

Over the next few days, however, he observed she was keeping very occupied. When asked what she was busy with, she replied, “there is a lot of work at the office, and I am running on a tight deadline, so just busy with it.” He left it at that and started thinking what he can do in order to appease his wife’s long-standing grievance.

After a few days, an idea struck him – he got her name tattooed on his arm. When he came home, he told, slowly rolling up his sleeve, “I have something to show you, it has been on my mind for very long – and I wasn’t quite sure what I could do…. but here it is now. I want you to know that names in themselves have no meaning unless we give them any. And this is a small step to represent the multitudes of meaning your name carries for me.”

She looked at him in disbelief, and handed a new copy of the government issued identity card - showing her new name!

     >Concept borrowed from “Gift of Magi” by O’Henry

If you were here today....

If you were here,

If you were here today, visiting this lake on a chilly winter afternoon, I would have told you that even when none of the trees have any leaf left on them, a park can look very serene and beautiful sometimes. I would have told you that trees, just like humans, appear to be a little tired at times,  especially after spring, and when you sit beside them quietly, they might just shed a tear or two on your shoulder too. 

If you were here, I would have told you that the way squirrel runs around, makes one think that in squirrels how does one tell old and young apart? Sure enough scientist would know of ways, but to naked eye, their agility and health seems almost same whether they are young or old!

Two people, at a distance, walking with arm in arm evokes a certain degree of warmth and happiness even though they are complete strangers to you. 

Picture courtesy - Ramchandra M S

I would have told you that though poles apart, for the differences in geography, natural scenery across the world have something common among them. Mountains always make us feel our existence and therefore, our problems are tiny compared to theirs. Sunsets always an elegant reminder of how endings can be beautiful and always followed by new beginnings.  Lakes always impart a sense of calm and collected composure, even when the water in them is frozen in patches. 

                                                                   

I would have told you all that and one more thing perhaps, that even in midst of all these non-human and natural elements, if there were a few humans in my thought you were one of them,if that is any indication of our friendship, in any way.  Overwhelming as natural scenery may be, we have a way of putting a human touch in it - perhaps a suggestive of the fact that we too are a part of it in a larger picture. 

Delhi ki sardi and Bombay ki baarish

There was a knock on my room’s door at 2’o clock in a chilling winter night, (if you have/are staying in a hostel, you know that it is never too late to knock anyone’s door.) I opened and found that one of my friends wanted me to go to the balcony and see the view outside. At first I found it a little strange but then realized that my friend must be indicating to the infamous fog that one gets to see in Delhi during winters. When I went to my balcony I found to my amazement that even the building and trees next to our hostel were no longer visible to me!

This was my first encounter with infamous/famous “Delhi ki Sardi” and the fog that it invariably brings. Winters in Delhi were chilling and freezing. For someone like me who had never seen temperature falling below 15C, Delhi ki sardi was an eye opener!!!! I realized how valued a warm blanket and a wardrobe of woollen clothes are. I spent two winters there, the second one was longer and far more chilling than the first one, though I had also grown seasoned with time.

During winters people suddenly start looking fatter, not because of the increase in calories intake but because of the whole layer of woollen clothes that one has to put on to survive!!

Another thing that becomes almost impossible in that weather is to wake up early in morning. I knew many early risers but even they succumbed to the weather and preferred to be in the den of their blankets till late. J On the fun side, Delhi ki sardi offers a lot of things too; I recollect the fun we had in having boiled eggs, maggie, warm soups and tea/ coffee in those cool times. For me the discomfort that Delhi ki sardi brought in terms of temperature was more than offset by the amazement of its experience, chance to sleep till late, and delicious food that one enjoyed there.

Just after a couple of months when I arrived in Bombay, a caring friend cautioned me about the monsoon and problems it brings along. I told him that having seen Delhi ki Sardi I am attuned to adjust in any and every kind of weather.

However soon I realized that running behind an inverted umbrella was not so easy a thing to do. Rain disturbs the traffic even more than the fog perhaps, and given the kind of space we have in Bombay it just makes the matters worse. However, rains too have many brilliant things to offer. Tea and Pakoras/ aloo chop/ bhajiyas, are the best things that can happen to you if you are stuck somewhere in the rain. And if you are in love, there is nothing more romantic than Bombay rains they say!!!!

Both Bombay ki baarish and Delhi ki Sardi, being forms of nature had many things in common too. Both impact the daily lives significantly, flights get delayed, trains are rescheduled, taxi drivers and auto drivers certainly become scarce commodity and at extremes life comes to a standstill. Both cause some discomfort to our lives, in Delhi one feels frozen constantly and in Bombay one just can’t move out freely. Even if you go out with an umbrella it will either get inverted or you will become frustrated as your umbrella will keeps hitting others’ umbrellas!!!!

But given the kind of lifestyle both these cities offer, such weather is a blessing in disguise, I guess. It gives one a chance to pause, ponder and perceive things with a little more clarity. It also reiterates that nature rules our lives and not the other way around.

It does not matter if one is in Delhi or in Bombay, whenever the weather gives you a breather, take it happily, sip a coffee or a tea and give some thought to those things you have been neglecting since long in your life. Life is beautiful!!!