#43 Namesake

Namesake

 In one of the Bollywood movies, (sorry!! : ( for unable to recall the name of the movie), the superstar of the era Amitabh Bachhan once uttered in his grave baritone ,”Naam mein kya rakha hai?” (What’s in a name?). When I wondered on the topic, I felt that names have got some meaning. When every creature has been assigned with very typical scientific names (evidences: biology text books), how can human beings, HOMOSAPIENS lag behind in this race? If names were worthless, then why are people much worried about it? It’s the name which brings both fame and shame. It’s for this name, the entire world runs before frantically. If you try to analyse little more to get into the seriousness of the topic, you’ll find it to be responsible for triggering several crimes.

   Now, I would like you to look into the connection of the names to our lives at a closer distance. We all are associated with a lot of names right from our birth which is not unique (unfortunately). In other words, the names that supposed to indicate one’s identity coincidentally matches with others. The custom of Nomenclature of new born babies according to Kundli (Horoscope) is regarded as a grand occasion in Hindu Culture.  It’s not just the parents who are excited about this auspicious event but relatives and kins pour their unconditional love and blessings in form of names. More the number of names assigned to the infant, larger is the number of relatives in the family as one name (or can be more) corresponds to one relative. Interestingly, those names stay alive throughout that child’s life and get renewed each time he meets his relatives. Just imagine the situation, suppose one of your relatives finds you (accidentally) in the public space and starts addressing you with his-assigned-nickname, what will be your reaction at that point of time? Names are also indication of one’s hierarchy in terms of generation in a family. In many cases, it is the future generation which carries (or inherits) the names of the predecessors.

  Names are often seen as synonyms to one’s prestige and social status. People do all sorts of things to keep their names high. They do this, that and what not, and why? -just for namesake!!In some cases, the spirit of maintaining a good name for good deeds incite the people to tread the virtuous path while in some other cases, it is the extreme fear of losing the social status that pushes the people to follow a wrong path. I don’t think I need to provide any incidences to exemplify the aforementioned statement. We, in our day-to-day life, witness many incidences of such types. In my school days, my teachers used to suggest, “Beta, achhe kaam karo jis se parents ka naam roshan ho”( Do good deeds to make your parents proud of you).

      Names do nothing except imparting identities to individuals. Our brain is so much accustomed to relate names with individuals that when a name flashes before our eyes, our mind starts to portray the individual bearing that name. (It becomes quite easy for the brain to recall an image stored inside the memory rather than guessing a complete stranger).Just imagine a situation where all names are vanished from the world, then what could have been the way to trace an individual? The task of reaching the individual would have become an impossible one just like searching for a flaw in the metal without using of any technology.

        If someone asks me, “naam mein kya rakha hai?”(what’s in a name), I would answer that “ naam mein bahot kuchh likha hai”(there’s a lot of importance in name) because without name there’s no identity(primary). I’m referring primary identity to the identity by virtue of birth and the other identity can be created by one’s actions. The second set of identity is one’s original which acts as a parameter for making him different from the crowd. Many born (with a name), live and die, their names get wiped away once they’re gone. There are some whose names survive even after their death. What I can infer from this that it is only one’s karma (deed) which is solely responsible for creating names. That’s why it has been very aptly said that” A good name is worth many riches”.

By Swati Sarangi

28.12.2013