The one on nicknames

(This was supposed to be written instead of the previous post, but wats a good story without a prologue right? )

Now nicknames are very interesting, cos there're memories behind each nickname a person has. And each story is just as goofy and just as interesting as the other.. And your true identity is always hidden in your nickname ( or so at least i like to believe)

F.O.F ( new comers look at previous posts to find out who F.O.F is) and I were having another of our random conversations in the middle of the night when we came to the topic of nicknames.. Now he's got a very nice name, but its boring ( and a tad bit formal) to use a person's name in every conversation.. Nicknames are somehow more personal and a whole lot more fun. Thus began a night long conversation on suitable nicknames for each other.. Now as always i shall start with another story and come back to the interesting conversation i had ( what can i say, i love the air of suspense.. told yu i could be a drama queen)

So here's the story of my first nickname..

You know how kids pick up words ending with vowels more easily.. and most times they're repeated vowels.. for instance words like 'tata' and 'mumma' and the likes.. Well i was no exception.. Though my mum had tonnes of mallu names to call me by (read molu), i decided to coin an all new word of my own- 'Dappa' ( pronounced the same way as 'cuppa')

What logic went behind the invention of this name i know not.. But ever since i could speak, i called myself dappa.. and anything around me had to be prefixed with dappa.. for instance instead of jus askin for chocolate, i'd say 'dappa choco give' or instead of saying ' i don't want to go to school', i'd say 'dappa school no'.. Now everyone thought that it was incredibly cute ( Not jus the name, but the way i associated everything to the name/word dappa) and so the name stuck on..

And over the years, several other 'names' have emerged from this simple name.. Such as 'Double-u' ( coined by my mom's brother, after the weird way in which i can twist my eyebrows)

'Dappu' ( come on, its the comman cliche' right, the ending with 'u' name)

'Dapp'

So thats bout the 'name' i gave myself ( and as boring as this post might be to you, i'm having incredible fun walkin down memory lane or should i say 'funny name' lane)

Then there were the series of 'Deep' related names, like Deepu, Deep and what not.. But one of my all time favourites is 'Dips'.. Somethin my dad gave me.. and incidentally its also wat F.O.F has started calling me..

These were the 'normal' names, and now for the silly ones..

Lets go in order shall we..

Enter 4th grade, there comes a guy (Kumaresh i think his name was)

You know the whole ' the boy teases yu cos he secretly likes yu' story right, well apparently this guy DID like me, but i sure din like him for the weird nickname he gave me.. I'd jus come bak from Delhi, and no matter how mallu my family is, we prefer eating roti to rice.. So paranthas were a usual lunch..

And thus the boy decides to call me- *wait for it*- 'CHAPPATI!!!! Apparently it rhymes with Deepti.. So all through primary and middle school this guy and his 'gang' call me chappati.. (Till 8th when i finally realized i could do something about it and ended up punching the guy)

Next.. We're in 9th and guys have started lookin beyond 'Pokemon' and started discovering girls.. Now i was this tall, THIN thing in school and most guys were too shy to come and speak to me ( it could've also been the fact that most of them were afraid to talk to the 'teacher's daughter')

Now i'm the 9th grader's definition of 'hot' and nothing describes me better than a matchstick, so there yu have it, they started calling me ' THEEPETTI' ( which means match stick, or rather match box)

Next stop, 11th grade.. I'm the nerdy dancer/ artist who keeps to herself but when let lose, cracks crazy jokes and is basically fun to hang out with.. Then starts a fad, i started scribbling the initials 'dp' wherever i go.. On benches, on the floor, in all the text books, i write it EVERYWHERE in different styles.. The trend setter that i am, suddenly everyone starts spellin their name this way.. Divi (short for Divya) became DV.. Vaish (short for Vaishnavi) became YC and so on.. And so, for my kooky trends, i was christened Dippy ( or dp)

College was next.. Nothin interesting happened till my second year, when finally the triplets were formed!! Now i'd taken an oath of sorts to stop swearing.. Hence everytime i wanted to curse someone, i'd refer to them as a bumboola or a bumboo or jus plain bum.. Thus the name bumboo stuck to me( Vedha apparently yawns like a cat, hence she became Billi and supri who jus cant seem to keep her mouth shut became Blabber)

Those were all the names i have and like, and you never know, i might gain more as life moves on..And someday when I'm all old and grey and I'm signing some voucher at office, I'll think of all the names i have/ had and I'll have somethin to laugh about..

Love,

Bumboo/ Dips/ Dippy/ Theepetti/ Chappati

Ps. I forgot to tell yu what i called F.O.F... apparently the guy is 'slightly' scared of crossing roads and the first time we hung out, he literally sprinted across an empty road, so i named him 'road runner' or R.R. for short.. he loves the name, i love his company, all is good in the world \m/

What's in a name??

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell just as sweet."

One of the most popular quotes in the world, any bum who's not even heard of Shakespeare would still know this quote.. Which brings us to the topic of names.. What IS in a name?

They give a person an identity (erm ok but what do you do if your name is Shruthi and you're in a class filled with 7 other Shruthi's.. 2 with the same initial even?)

They speak about the person you are (again lets take the name Shruthi.. I know a couple who are absolutely tone deaf.. so much for maintaining 'Shruthi')

Everyone has a story behind their name (or nameS as most people I know have 'house names' and 'school names'.. yea I've never really figured that out myself)

One can be named after the star you were born under, after a much loved deceased relative, after one's favourite actor, or worst.. after an old flame..

Some families follow the letter obsession. You know, having all the children named with the same letter ( Classic example, a friend of my Dad called Gurumurthy, married Ganga and they decided to call their kids Gautham and Gowri.. Now that makes it easier for us cos we jus refer to them as the 'G's)

I have a story behind my name as well, before which i shall tell you what i was *shudder* almost named..

I was born a few months after my great grand mother's demise ( and she much like my grandfather had predicted that the child to be born-me!! would be a girl)

And when i was born they saw that i resembled her ( well yea, i was born bald like a lot of babies are and since she was dying of cancer, she din have much on her head towards her end.. and the baby wrinkles and the toothlessness contributed to my uncanny 'resemblance')

Hence some old kook (one of my mum's many uncles) decided i should be called 'PadmavathyKuttiAmma' after my great grandma..

My dad who was in Bahrain that time flew down just in time to save me!!

So then it was (thankfully) up to my parents to name me..

Mum wanted me to be named Shruthi ( now you know why i used that as an example :) )

Reason being she 'knew' I'd have a nice voice and well she wanted my name to begin with an 'S' as well since my brother's did.

Dad had better plans.. He wanted me to be called Deepti- one who brings light.. He gave everyone a 2 hour discourse on how this child- me!!! had brought in happiness into every one's otherwise grey existence..

People who'd been brooding over two recent deaths, now had something to smile about.. 'The birth of a new life'

He had just got promoted, and my brother (who always came second in class, losing by a few points to a sindhi girl) had finally come in first. So i was obviously the bearer of good news, the one who one who brought a 'glow' onto faces with my toothless baby yawns.. the one who brought 'warmth' to their dark cold days..

(Long story short my dad bull crapped for two hours cos he wanted me to be named after some form of light as well. His name's Pradeep, my brother is Sandeep.. My cousins are Divya, Diya and Deepak. And well he wanted another "deep" in the family)

So that's how i became Deepti.. and from this name came a hoard of nicknames. some interesting, some confusing and some just plain hilarious..But more on that in the next post..

The drumroll

Ever noticed how the most random yet the most interesting conversations start after the clock strikes twelve? There's something to these late night conversations that bring out the best of the philosopher and comedian in you. I personally think I've been at my witty best only in the wee hours of the morning..

The conversation could be one online, a call ( though this isn't always a great idea to have with just about anyone, so late in the night) and of course the ever dear sms.. I personally have introduced several mortals to the wonderful world of 20 messages per minute. I have several tired fingers cramped hands to my name. And as gory as the last message sounded, i take great pride in this 'achievement' of mine..

My latest achievement has been this friend of a friend ( why take names, right :P )

You know how sometimes it takes you a couple of years to get to know a person and feel close to them while with certain others all it takes is a conversation to feel like you've shared a lifetime of friendship with them? Well this friend of a friend ( F.O.F lets call him) belonged to the latter, and all it took us was a countable number of messages for us to 'bond'..

Now ever since vedha has started working and supri has moved in with her grand mum, neither of them stay up late. Thus a nocturnal creature like me can get pretty lonely in the night, not having anyone to share the eeriness of the night and the random thoughts with. That's where our nocturnal hero, mr F.O.F played a pivotal role, turns out he was pretty much a vampire himself, and thus grew a friendship known only to the shadows of the darkness.

Random comments about mallus, hang outs in the city, pretentious peers and many such topics formed part of our conversation with each of us trying to outdo the other with our response. Though i think last night's conversation is worth a mention..

F.O.F is coming for a play i'm helping organize and so he'd asked me to arrange for tickets. I collected it a week back and have been planning to drop them off with him for quite a while now, but things keep coming up... I was to meet him today, but then i had to cancel last minute cos my mum and i were planning to have a few friends over..

" Still awake? i was getting bored, was hoping for company. Oh, btw guess what, my parents are coming down tomoro"

" Yup, still wide awake! they are? cool. So its gonna be good ol' quality time with the parents tomoro"

"hmm something like that, though i've saved my eve for this really sweet girl who took the pains of getting me tickets to a play i've been wanting to watch"

" lol very very lame reference my boy! and i completely forgot to tell you, i wont be able to make i tomoro. Mum's made plans. I'll send them thro someone else if its urgent"

" No, thats ok, i'll take em from you when you're free.. though the wait goes on and on doesnt it?"

"I guess.."

"But it's good"

"The wait is good? How? rather why?"

"you're a fan of how i met right? remember the drum roll?"

And thus a 2 hour conversation on the 'drumroll' followed.. For those of you who're unfamiliar with the term, well thats why i'm writing this post :)

You know the wait before a large event? How your mind starts working at double the speed? You visualise the event the way you like it in your head..

For instance, you have a really important paper presentation that could lead to a long awaited promotion. All the while you're waiting your turn, you're rehearsing what you're gonna say and how you're gonna end the presentation with a witty joke. You picture the entire hall clapping and appreciating your work, you picture the board of directors noding their head in approval and some old grouch even giving you a thumbs up.. The excitement that visual gives you, the confidence that boosts in you, the funny feeling in your tummy that all the anitcipation gives you-Well that is the drumroll..

The event as such goes by faster than one can blink an eyelid, and all that remains is the drum roll before the event and the success that follows it.

Another example? Well this is the one they use in the series itself and its the best possible example of the drumroll. Imagine you've just started seeing someone, things are going fine and you guys are going on your first official date. The ambience is just as you'd imagined it to be, the place has just enough people to let you have your own privacy and after the desert he leans over..

He puckers up and closes his eyes and you know wats gonna follow, but for those 30 seconds of seperation you're picturing the most perfect kiss, the one in which you can hear bells ring and see sparks fly. While you're thninking, you move closer and then suddenly you pull back just a little bit to add to the intensity of the moment. You move closer so that you can feel his breath on your face and you study his features and imagine how they will change when your lips touch. Thw excitment and fervour of that moment, well THATS the drum roll!

And we all have experinced this 'phenomena' at some point of time or the other, i personally love the drama that life offers and for fellow nuts like me, Enjoy the drum roll!