What's in a Name?

 

I am reminded of Shakespeare's iconic quote from Romeo and Juliet "What's in a Name? That which we call a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet!" The storm in a tea cup this time around is not because this name business has anything to do with humans or flowers but with the animal kingdom and that too with the First Couple  of the Jungle, a pair of Lion and Lioness, although  technically as of now they are the First Couple of the  Siliguri Zoo. Mind you the name of the town being Siliguri has nothing to do with the silliness of the objection raised by some ultra zealous zealots, the Empress in question is ordained Sita and the Emperor is Akbar. That is sacrilege, and with such names it is an invite for the “Love Jihad” making its maiden foray in the animal kingdom as well.

Juliet in her naivete innocently enquired thus when Romeo’s Montague antecedents, and the implications thereof explained to her. Any other name would be ok, but then if Romeo was not a Montague we would have been deprived of this epic by Shakespeare. I would go on to say that love would probably not be the same if we did not have Romeo-Juliet and their desi avatars Heer-Ranjha. After all the lovers would not have anyone to swear by and look upto as their ideals in this amorous venture.  Juliet in her soliloquy puts it across so succinctly, Romeo which is not hand or foot or arm or face or any other part belonging to a man. So Akbar the Lion is just a Lion and the name has no bearing on his being a Lion, it could have been anything. Incidentally until very recently wives took on the surname of the husband after the betrothal, the practice is on the wane amongst the elites, hoi-polloi though continue with the tradition. In many communities in India the first name of the bride is also changed by the in-laws, obviously they had either not read Shakespeare or chose to ignore it being a foreign idea. 

Indians have naming ceremony, the “Namkaran samskara” as one of the sixteen samskaras mandated in Hinduism and unlike the West where they have an acute shortage of names, as is evident by their choosing the names of their fathers/grandfathers/grandmothers by merely suffixing the Second or Third or simply Junior. So we have George HW Bush Senior and George W Bush Junior, Elizabeth I & II  and now of course King Charles I II & III. In India post independence the names were generally after the freedom fighters, then Bollywood took over gradually and Vijay after Amitabh Bachhan’s screen name and Rahul after Sharukh’s became very popular. Although of late Rahul is not sought after as the other Rahul has not yet come of age. These days the youngsters resort to finding the most difficult name as long as it is unique and different, so we have the latest one to join the bandwagon “Akaya” the second progeny of “Virushka”. 

But we have digressed, this imbroglio of Sita and Akbar can be resolved by resorting to “nom de guerre", an assumed name under which a person or Lion/lioness engage in combat or some other activity(!). I think Romeo-Juliet or Heer Ranjha is quite appropriate, any takers……