What's in a name?

 “I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”

-ANNE SHIRLEY: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

 

What’s in a name?  More than you’d think. In fact, knowingly or unknowingly, we all connect names with people, animals or things, an example being the narcissus flower. If you know the meaning of NARCISSIST, then the flower doesn’t look so nice in your imagination. Now think of a daffodil. What does it look like? Believe it or not, daffodils and narcissi are the same flower. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Now let us take another example.

 

              I walk into class just before the bell rings. A flustered Mrs. Gopal runs in. “Sorry I’m late,” she cries. Little does she know she isn’t the only one. My best friend Arya, slips into the class, just as the teacher turns around to pick up a sheet that slipped from her fingers. We smirk at one another as she slides in next to me. Mrs. Gopal turns around and clears her throat. “Attention,” she says. No one looks at her. They chat on, oblivious to her attempts to catch their attention. Arya and I are watching her. This is the most amusing part of class, by far. I look sidelong at my classmates. Arya’s twin brother Aryan, who sits at the desk adjacent to us (I know, only an ‘N’ difference between Arya and Aryan. What were their parents thinking? It is confusing. And annoying. Once Aryan forgot the n in his name when writing his name on the answer paper, and Arya almost failed a test) and his deskmates, Shiva and Kumar are making grotesque faces at the teacher. She isn’t pleased. Not one bit. “ATTENTION!” she screams. Her face is flushed and she looks like she wants to squash the boys to a pulp. Everyone looks at her, shocked. Normally, she’s such a pushover. Once we calm down a bit, she glares at us like she’s questioning why she even took a job teaching 7^th standard students science. I mutter to Arya, “Mt. Gopal’s gonna blow!” Mrs. Gopal waits till we are silent, and tell us, “ we are getting a new student. His name is Aryan Hitler. I understand his last name is a bit…… strange, and he has undergone much teasing due to it, which is why he has switched schools. He is unable to change his name due to some snag in the judicial bit of it. I trust you will be kind to him. Also, Aryan we will refer to you using your last name now, Dilip. I know it our custom to use the new student’s last name. This time, however, you’ll have to adjust.” However, even after all Mrs. Gopal’s warning, Aryan, sorry, Dilip teased him so much that his parents were called in, along with Aryan H. and his parents.

 

              Do you see how badly Aryan H suffered because of his name. Adolf Hitler was a tyrant, so this new boy, who they for all they knew could be as sweet and humane as Mother Teresa, was lumped into the same category as a murderer. Another thing, we tend to judge people very easily. If the students at his old school and Dilip had not jumped to conclusions about someone just because of his name, then Aryan need not have suffered so much bullying at their hands. Also, it is very tough to change your name for someone who does not the correct judicial procedures, so YOU don’t jump to conclusions about Aryan’s parents.