What is in a Name : After All

Nothing has brought the significance of human nomenclature more into the forefront than the phenomenon of Globalization. After becoming aware of the fact that western vocal chords will refuse to process the complex analog signals embedded within the likes of Krishnamurthy, Ranganathan & Jeetendra Chaturvedi, the outsourced oufits imported the anglicized names in order to boost the exports. Krishnamurthy and Ranganathan metamorphosi-zed into Kris and Randy, while Jeetendra Chaturvedi simply initialized into JC. Here is a brief name-centric phone conversation between Subramaniam and me.

Subramaniam : Hi ! This is Sam. Can I talk to Mr. Satnam Doad.
Me : Satnam is not here. Can I take a message?

Subramaniam : May I know who I am talking to?
Me : Yes, This is Robert de Niro.

Subramaniam : Mr. Niro, are you the decision maker in this house?
Me : No, I am a happily married man !!!!! Hello….Hello…Hello…I can’t hear you Sam….where are you?

Getting back to the main issue, let’s look at the brief history of Punjabi nomenclature. Having stood in the way of every armed invasion which came from the north-west, Punjabi nomenclature began with infusion of bravery and tones of military brass band. We had Sher Singh (literally Lion Lion), Shamsher Singh (Who can shame even a Lion), Jhujhar Singh (Don’t mess with this guy), Gajjan Singh (Thundering Lion) and Karnail Singh & Jarnail Singh (Ranking members of the military who directly went from the womb to the war). Southern Indian nomenclature might have been also forced to add a wild animal character to their nomenclature, if the genocidal armada of Christopher Columbus had found the real India. Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka have been rolling out this strategy on a group level basis.

A relatively calm period of the history perhaps softened the Punjabi lexicon but definitely not their intent. This era brought us Baljeet (Victory by force), Jagjeet (Victor of the universe), Inderjeet (Victor over the Gods), Sharanjeet (Take his protection and victory guaranteed), Ajeet (No victory possible against this one) and Paramjeet (Winner takes all). Having a vested interest in linguistic connections, I searched for evolution of Daler Singh (Lion with a big heart). Now, to be clear, the “Big Heart” here is big, strictly in the sense of physical courage. Writing a million dollar check to the Green Peace won’t portray you as Daler in Punjab, but saving Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman and their comely “Saheliyan” from “The Burning Train” definitely will. In fact, if you write a million dollar check to the Green Peace, some might call you a Kammla Singh (Lion who went nuts). Daler perhaps has its twisted linguistic roots in spanish “Dolor” (pain). Many Daler Singhs have been known to be a constant ‘dolor’ in the ‘you know what’ of governments of India and Pakistan.

When our old ways were touched by the sprawling urbanization, we got out of the military bases with Gurjeet Singh (Victor of character), Surjeet Singh (Victor of melody) and Manmohan Singh (The gracious mover of hearts – No wonder he became the prime minister). We also had a rare but special Montek Singh. This lion is a product of English “Money” and Punjabi “-tek” (support). Obviously, he was destined for a roar in the finance and planning ministry.

And then came the time when Punjabis made love and not war. And did they put some “Preet” (love) into their act. This era gave us Kulpreet (Love of the whole clan), Jaspreet (Glorious love child), Jagpreet (Love of the entire universe), Amarpreet (Product of undying love) and an occasional Samarpreet (product of hot summer afternoon love – pioneered in the countryside, exported immediately to the nearest city). And let’s not forget the loveliest of all the love children – PREETI. Preet Singh and Preet Kaur made Pritam.

A prolonged absence of any major turbulence in the Punjabi society has led to further mellowing of nomenclature. The image of a hard drinking, jovial and friendly Punjabi becomes even friendlier when you meet Harmeet (everyone’s friend), Manmeet (A hearty friend) and my good friend Gurmeet (A Friend with good character – He knows all the sweet spots in town). The lion seems to have been tamed quite a bit though. Punjabi males are beginning to omit “Singh” from their names altogether. The pressure to get in touch with the feminine side is so great that even Daler has added Mehndi (Henna) to his name. Though from what I see in the news reports, Daler Mehndi has caused some serious “dolor” to the immigration sleuths.

And one important aspect of Punjabi nomenclature is religion, which brings the issue closer to home. My brother and I were named with words picked in sequence from holy book of Sikhs. My elder brother Onkar comes from the starting words in the book - Ik Onkar –meaning God is One. Profound and most misunderstood (the words, not my brother. The need to understand anything about my brother is not expected to arise for a few millennia…at the least). One God…...as in indivisible One…….but Whose One? I have One. You have One. Dalai Lama is an incarnation of One. George Bush and Hillary Clinton have One too. Mitt Romney has a Mormon One. Middle easterners can’t agree on One. Communist party does not approve of One. A good friend of mine believes in Two-in-One. One God is watching all this and perhaps having fun. My name Satnam came from the next word - meaning Truth is God. But the question arises again…..Whose Truth? The fact is that very few people can hear the Real Truth over the din of My Truth and Your Truth. If you do then you will agree...perhaps there is something in the name after all.