Those mighty South Indian names ! When William Shakespeare posed the question “What’s in a name?” I am guessing he had never encountered a name like Villupuram Chinnaih Pillai Ganesan (a.k.a Sivaji Ganesan). Had he known, he would have been a little hesitant to offer, in response, the analogy of a rose. When India’s greatest woman athlete literally soared over hurdles and almost got us an Olympic medal, little did we know that her name is Pilavullakandi Thekkaparambil Usha (a.k.a P.T.Usha). Such “dumdar” names are no longer common, at least in urban India. Raised in Delhi my mother probably thought it prudent to give her two sons less complicated names rather than have us endure endless ridicule (pretty commonplace then). This trend continues in our present MTV generation, where most South Indian names are India neutral (my two children included). Some of it is out of practical consideration I guess, increased mobility being one. For instance if you are not used to a name like, Palaghat Kolungode Vishwnatha Narayanaswamy; trying to pronounce it can give you a slipped disc, I grudgingly admit. South Indian names will soon loose their majesty. A time will come when we will not have names like “Maruthhur Gopalamenon Ramachandran (MGR) or Singanlluru Puttaswamayya Mutthuraju (Dr.Rajkumar, the great Kannada actor). Understandable, but sad. So coming back to the bard’s original query "What’s in a name?" Ummm, If your name is “Avul Pakir Jainilabdeen Abdul Kalam Manakkayar” I would have to say “Everything”.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 10:54:43 +0000
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