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..