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Showing posts from March, 2011

What's in a name ?

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  "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Shakespeare lived in easier times. If he had to create a Facebook account, a yahoo mail box or simply book an airline ticket, he would have had second thoughts. If there is one chore I dread in today’s world, it is filling up a renewal form – be it for a passport, a driving license, a PAN card or anything else. Take my Passport. The Father’s name, First name and Surname columns ensure I end up with MARUDHAVANAN RAJAN KANAGASABAI - not a simple set of alphabets that you can write on little boxes and hope they are not being misspelled – leave alone pronounced right. No wonder, I have had my passport redone thrice over and my PAN card twice (honest – and I am not joking for once). I guess my parents were in a awfully fouled up mood, when they gave me my name. Rajan, in Sanskrit, means, a King and Kanagasabai is a combination of two words, kanagam meaning gold and sabai meaning hall. They had deci