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Tuesday, August 15, 2023

What's in the name? Tell me about it.

 ‘Ram’, I suddenly called my colleague in a group call as I struggled recalling his preferred name. I confess I am poor with remembering names and worse when I am not attentive enough to talk. It's a weakness that keeps people like me much to themselves. I am sure many would relate to this predicament. But that’s not the point here. The point is I called him Ram because out of his full long traditional Indian name which contained several small different names, that’s the only one that stood out for me when I quickly gazed at the screen to help myself out. And the real point of this story is I love the name Ram. Simply because I love Ram. 

Let's clear the air first before proceeding with the rest of this story. Yes I am talking about 'The Ram' from the epic Ramayana. But I insist there is nothing religious about it. Yeah yeah I agree, it started because of the religion I was born into. And the culture- yeah all those festivals. And the rituals. I get all that but to avoid wearing the religion on my sleeves, lets say my love started when I read the epic Ramayana and loved the character of the main protagonist, Ram. I loved it so much that I didn't care about what is right or wrong in that holy epic as many modern people debate. I like to stay away from ‘those’ sort of discussions. For me, there is this whole romance associated with Ram and Ramayana, a whole cult that has nothing to do with the story. It’s just positivity and complete devotion to an idea of someone who is very pure and kind. It’s the process of focusing and devoting one self on that pure form that I find very attractive. I don’t want anything negative between me and that feeling of devotion. Clear? Good lets go back to the story.

I felt very proud that I was factually correct while calling my colleague in my miserable state of absenteeism. I also felt very amused that I could chant Ram publicly while speaking with my colleagues. That’s the beauty of Indian names which are after our Gods. That’s why my daughters names are after the Hindu Goddesses. Calling these names ensure something spiritual at least in the whole busy day than doing nothing lol.  

BUT my colleague was not very happy about it. As I said earlier, ‘Ram’ is just part of his full name but of course, his first name which he prefers to be his calling name, is different. And everybody is used to calling him with that regular name. So after the meeting, much to my surprise and his annoyance, my little 'one second' faux pas ensued a kind of mayhem. People were confused in the office, some called him and asked what should they actually call him and some got so confused they were asking who is this new guy called ‘Ram’ in the team! And though he was able to clear some air in sometime yet his name as ‘Ram’ stayed with the project manager who is an Englishman. Ram is a name that has its own significance, its own magic, even people from other cultures pay attention to the name especially when someone say it with the kind of devotion like mine. Ram, Christ, Buddha, Mohammad these names make people around the world pause. They are not just names, they are the ideals of human life. The manager was adamant to call him only ‘Ram’ every time and not letting it go as he found it nice and easy to pronounce it. Especially after learning with much difficulty so many different kind of names in our multicultural team.  

Poor guy struggled to remind his real first name to the manager and rest of the team for sometime but finally gave up much to his dismay. Later whenever he talked to me, he would call me by different names, some times Ruchi, sometimes Rohini and sometimes just anything - he said he genuinely gets confused but I suspect he does it to get even which I honestly don’t mind. After all, I felt blessed as I get to hear ‘Ram’ ka ‘naam’ every morning in my work calls.  ðŸ˜‚

 

 

 

 


Saturday, November 23, 2019

Sounds of Quiet - #poem

Whirling waves in the heart of oceans,
Trembling thunders in the dust of clouds ,
Violent volcanoes in the depth of mountains,
And yet, surrendered all sounds to the joys of quiet.

So many words that I could have chosen,
Thoughts aspirations and hidden desires
Let only float in my eyes with contention
For, I have surrendered all sounds to the joys of quiet.

They tell I can be the master of this 
Those tell I can be the master of that
May be all are right but how does that matter,
When, one has to surrender all sounds to the joys of quiet.

So listen to my one bit, coz I promise  words have ceased to excite me
Silence no more is compulsion but my golden friend
I can teach you too how it inspires glee

But wait.. who am I to teach an inspiration
To speak that which can only be felt and can’t be expressed
It might not come to you any day or it may
If it does then you too will surrender all sounds to the joys of quiet.

That day we’ll talk our hearts out my friend,
And how real that conversation will be,
No spoken word yet the quiet will reveal each others..
Thoughts aspirations desires and dreams..






Saturday, March 23, 2019

Internet - A parent's dilemma #ChroniclesOfAnITmomma

I think it was just a year before my high school when I became curious about Internet. We didn't have it at home. We didn't have even a computer at home that time. It was the newspapers where I first read about it. Nobody in my family knew about it. And I was so curious!

Friday, January 25, 2019

Main jahan rahoon.... on 26th Jan

One year ago we moved for the first time to another country. Moved from our country of origin to a completely foreign location. My wandering soul as always embraced this as an opportunity to traverse new lands n skies, converse with new different people, soak in diverse cultures.

Saturday, October 13, 2018

A Butterfly with a #Blindlist

Have you ever imagined a life like that of a caterpillar who always stayed in its cocoon? Protected and sheltered from the outside world. Spending its days and nights, all inside. Growing in body and mind but still who has to remain inside. Until the inside is not big enough!

Friday, October 5, 2018

Bring Investment Back Home


We are living in a global, interdependent, inter-connected world. Having made a big move from India to the United Kingdom recently, we are first-hand experiencing true multicultural existence.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Naam Ramayan

I have been listening to this piece of ‘naam ramayan’ for quite sometime now. It makes me, umm, simply happy. But I actually read about it today.