“What’s in a name, what’s in a name, er.. What’s in a name…” – A forgetful Shakespearean scholar.

The point being, over the span of your lifetime you tend to have various names, various ways by which people call you. You love some of them, hate some and cherish some. Whether it is your parents calling you by your embarrassing childhood pet name in front of your 23 year old friends, your teacher pompously calling you by your full name, your friends calling you by weird nick names, firangs mispronouncing your very beautiful Indian name or little children, unable to pronounce your name, calling you by a derivative, it sticks. And you don’t forget them for some time to come. This post is about all the names I am known by, sorted by popularity.

Naren: Destined to come into the world on the 12^th of January, 1987, I decided to give a little surprise and dropped in about 6 days earlier. My parents’ shock shadowed the surprise I gave to the world, as I apparently looked like an Ethiopian child (no offense meant to any race, I am merely pertaining to the darkness of my skin). 12^th January is Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, who was known as Naren and hence the name. It stuck and am known as Naren to all my close friends, relatives and people who have seen me grow up (and sideways ). Other variations include Nannu Bhai, Noden and Nanenen (that’s what my sister called me when she was a baby). It means ‘the best of men’ and better, it fits me like a glove.

Sudarshan: My christened name, this is what I introduce myself by. Most of the aforementioned friends and relatives are confused when I am referred to by this name, as they have absolutely no notion that this is my official name. There are other variations, but I couldn’t care less because I hate all of them. Bottom-line: No variations of Sudarshan, I love my name. Means “Good to look at” and can you blame me??

Item: It’s almost 3 years since I got this name, and I go by this name at IITM. Christened because I apparently danced and wiggled well to the tunes of the hit Hindi item number Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo, I have given whole new definitions to it. All those meanings are encapsulated in one single, oft repeated sentence: Item is God. Might be a bit haughty of me to say that but the following quotes from our history should tell quite a few things:

• As if you could kill Item without injuring eternity ~ Thoreau.
• Men talk of killing Item, when Item quietly kills them ~ Dion Boucicault.
• Who forces Item is pushed back by Item; who yields to Item finds Item on his side ~ The Talmud.
• There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: Item ~ Napoleon I.
• Item! The corrector when our judgments err ~ Lord Byron.
• Who then is Item?  If no one asks me, I know who he is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know ~ Saint Augustine.
• Item is the wisest counselor of all ~ Pericles.
• My only regret is that I have never been on Item ~ Marilyn Monroe.
• All my possessions for a moment of Item ~ Elizabeth I.

I think you get my point.

Jack: Named so as a means to tease me with a girl called Jayalakshmi at school. Why Jack, you might ask. If you notice carefully, you get Jak if you remove all the other letters. Or that is how I think the name evolved. Slowly, the name gained various other forms like Jackie, Ja-Jack-Jackie, Jockey, Jock, Jack the Ripper, Jack and the beanstalk (beanstalk being her) and so on.

James: I am called this by my mates at junior college for JEE coaching, the reason being that they thought I was Neena Wilson’s (a friend from my place, we were the only 2 people from steel plant to go to the college in city) brother and hence named me, James. Not a great etymology, but I like it nevertheless.

Sania: Not many people know I am called this, but it was christened by some seniors who I played volley ball with. My customized style of bouncing the ball 5 times before every serve was what caught their attention.

Frankie: Called that by very few people who saw me act superbly well as Frankenstein at Dumb-C in IITM. The scene given was Frankenstein and Dracula on a guy’s night out, and we did our part to perfection. I was awarded a special mention.

There have been other names too, but due to their lack of importance or due to the utter commonness of such a name, I have omitted them from this post.

“Er… What’s in a name… That which we… rose… what’s in a name…” - The same old gentleman.