What’s in a Name????

How much significance does a name has in a country where people name their children after famous personalities with the hope of getting noticed and thus escaping from the curse of extreme poverty. If you have ever wondered about the relevance of your name in your life, well, this post is for you. Others can also join- who knows, this post may actually inspire you to find more about your name.

The inspiration for this post came from an article in a magazine, in which I read about a father in Uttar Pradesh who named his kids after political leaders, hoping for deliverance from poverty. I was actually moved at the plight of the family – which consisted of 8 kids and their parents. The kids have been named after famous political leaders which include Mulayam Singh, Kalyan Singh and Jayalalitha. Their father who earns a very meagre income hopes that the names of his children would shape their destiny and make them as popular as their namesakes. I sincerely hope that God will show them a way out of this tough situation and bless the children to do something great in life.

So what has all this to do with our topic of discussion??? Well, our name has always been special for us. It is a part of our identity regardless of whether our name is one which is very common or one which is very rare (and confusing for others). When we try to get an e-mail id in gmail or yahoo, we get astonished at the number of people who share the same name with us (and has therefore taken all possible permutations and combinations of our name as their mail id). There are also these lucky ones who have these uncommon names and who thus manage to get a mail id very easily.

And then today, people are coming up with ‘strange’ and uncommon names for their children. This has been my personal experience as my cousins are all coming up with long names for their children and as the family grows bigger, remembering the names has become really difficult for me. So in order to pay them back, I’ve already started thinking of some unusual names 🙂

Shabana Azmi

Now talking about my name – I was never really happy about it. For me, my name sounded a bit long and then the ‘ana’- people can easily cook up many nicknames (One of the most popular one in school was ‘banana’). I always used to complain about my name to my parents and we sometimes used to end up in small fights. They would suggest that I could change my name anytime and I used to become quiet. Well, we have choices on all important aspects of our life, but we are left without a choice in the matter of our own name, an important part of our identity.

So I started wondering about my name. I knew that I shared my name with ‘Shabana Azmi’, the famous film actor and social worker (I have an uncle who always addresses me as ‘Shabana Azmi’). And then Javed Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar have always been like a part of my family. I have always been a fan of my husband’s lyrics and have always admired my son’s films.

I learnt that my parents had actually thought of another name for me – ‘Fiza(that reminds me of  the Hindi film ‘Fiza’ with Karishma Kapoor in the title role). It was my grandfather who suggested the name ‘Shabana’ for me. But when I asked about the meaning of my name, nobody was very sure. So I decided to google and find out.

And I was successful. I discovered that ‘Shabana’ is a Persian word that means ‘famous’. I was equally surprised and excited. I was amazed when I realised that my name has actually got something to do with my life.  I was quite well known in my school as I’d been the head girl of the school in my eleventh standard and had also been the school topper in tenth and twelfth standards. And now in college, I am popular because of my notes. I was surprised at the close association of my name with my life. I don’t know anything about what life has in store for me in the future, but as of now, my name signifies something that has been both a boon and a bane for me – ‘popularity’.

Thus my name proved to be a very important part of my destiny. This new realisation has been really wonderful. I’ve stopped complaining about my name and have even started feeling proud of it. So when are you going to find out how special your name is???

Life – My Take

For a girl whose life has always revolved around her family and her duties (for a student what can be the most important duty other than her studies??), a girl who preferred listening than speaking, a girl who had certain principles in life, WHAT CAN BE HER TAKE ON LIFE ??? Read on to find more….

Well, if the intro sounds boring, I’m so sorry, but this is all what you can expect in this space. But it’s not that boring as it seems to u. Because, for that girl, there’s so much more into life than duties, studies and principles. Things are not always what they appear to be….

When the world entered into the last week of November, the most important event was the first anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. But for me (and all my friends in S5CSE) it was also the first anniversary of our wonderful tour (sorry ‘Industrial Visit’) to Bangalore. I’m still in the process of completing my tour diary (hopefully I’ll complete it this week itself). I wish I could go back to those days again and relive those awesome moments with my friends. While writing my tour diary, as I try joining the pieces of memories back into that perfect picture, I realise with grief that those wonderful days of my life (rather ‘our life’) will never be back. We’d enjoyed the 7 days to the fullest. We had lots of fun together – forgetting all the ego clashes and small fights. It was like a dream moment for all of us. But when we came back from our ‘Dream Trip’ on 27^th November 2008, what awaited us was the shocking news of ‘Mumbai Attacks’. And we were back into the reality, back into the world ruled by violence and hatred. It did not make a difference in our lives – but it did make a difference to hundreds of other people. Some lost their dear ones, some were injured and we all realised the shocking  truth that tomorrow it can happen to us also…..

When the NSGs successfully completed their mission, we once again saluted the bravery of our soldiers. Our country had lost some of her brave sons in the battle, but they still live in the heart of millions. And what better tribute can we pay to our valiant brothers….

Let us pray that no more 26/11s happen in the world…. Let us all try to build a better world with harmony and love…..

My Wayanad Tour Diary

I had been excited about the Wayanad trip since the very day my mom announced that she’s taking her final year B.Sc students for the tour. My uncle and cousins had visited the place one year back and I had been waiting for an opportunity to visit the place. I had heard lots about the natural beauty of the place and had even seen the snaps taken by my cousins. So you can imagine how excited I was about the trip.

The 3 day trip was scheduled to begin on 1^st December 2009 and my entire family was going on the tour.  My father had a hard time arranging his classes and my bro had to miss three classes. Still all of us were full of enthusiasm. It was the perfect time for me as my results had just been announced on 31^st November. My Mom was very happy with the results as there were no ‘B’s in my grade sheet.

1st December 2009

So after all the preparations, we started out at 4:35pm on 1^st December. There were 21 students- 12 girls and 9 boys, a male faculty, a non-teaching staff member and then my family. Thus our group consisted of 27 people. I had some worries about whether I’ll be able to get along well with the other students who were of the same age as me. But once the trip started, all my worries were cleared.

The students had arranged a tourist bus for the trip. It was very spacious and comfortable. There were students from other classes as well as my mom’s colleagues to wave us off.  Amidst all the cheers and excitement, our tour began. At first, I was haunted by the memories of the tour I had with my friends an year back. I suddenly began to miss all my friends. But soon my mom took me to her students and I had the introduction with them. I sat and talked with them. Since it was Karthika that day, we stopped our bus at a place and lighted candles.

Students with lighted candles

We later had our dinner from a restaurant and we travelled through NH 17 from Ernakulam. The students were having fun. We later took NH 212 from Kozhikode and by 2 am we started climbing the ghat area. It was a full moon day and we sat glued to the window enjoying the natural beauty. We looked admiringly at the hills. There were about 9 hair pin bends on the way.

It suddenly started growing colder and some of us put our sweaters on. Soon we reached Wayanad and by 5 am, we reached New Paris Hotel in Meppadi, where our accommodation had been arranged.

A View from New Paris Hotel

2nd December 2009

We took rest and by 7:30am, we refreshed ourselves and got ready. We had our breakfast from the restaurant attached to the hotel and by 8am, we started out journey to Suchipara (Needle Rock) Waterfalls. All along the way, there were tea estates and we enjoyed the serene beauty. We took many snaps and were really bowled over by the beauty of the place. About an hour later, we got out of the bus and started walking through the hilly terrain. It was indeed a long walk and there were any areas where we slipped and were about to fall, but our friends held our hands tightly enough to save us from falling. After what seemed as a never ending walk, we reached near the waterfalls. We admired the beauty of the waterfalls. Some students even went near the waterfalls and washed their hands and face in the cold water. It was a wonderful experience.

After spending some time there, we walked back. Now we were really tired after the long walk to the waterfalls that we found it really difficult to climb up. So we stopped at a place and had some refreshments and then resumed our walk. We later spent some time for shopping and then started on our journey to the next place – the famous ‘Edakkal Caves’.

It took us more than an hour to reach the famous place. Our bus stopped at a place and we took a jeep to reach the foot of the hills. And then we had to climb all the way to the top of the hill. We had to climb through the rocks and in some places where the rocks were very high, there were a flight of stairs. We somehow managed to reach the top and then in one of the caves, we found Palaeolithic inscriptions. After spending some time there, we had to do the toughest part-climbing down. We climbed down slowly and with the help of boys we finally reached the foot of the hills.

A Beautiful View of tea estate

Another beautiful view from the way

The SoochiPaara Waterfalls

After all the adventures, we were tired and hungry. But we were also enjoying all these new experiences. We had lunch from a restaurant and later visited a museum, which was nearby. In the museum, we found various weapons, fishing equipments, ornaments, etc which were excavated from various parts of Wayanad. There were also inscriptions on rock and sculptures that showed battles between humans and animals.

From the museum, we started to our next destination – Pookot Lake. We reached the place at about 4:30. There was a small but beautiful lake. Some of the students went for boating in the lake. We later went for a walk around the lake and by around 6:45pm, we started back to the hotel. We reached the hotel an hour later. After refreshing ourselves and having dinner, we went to sleep.

The Pookot Lake

3rd December 2009

The next day, after breakfast we started our journey to the famous ‘Kuruva Islands’ by around 8am. We reached there by around 10 o’ clock. We crossed the river by a boat and reached the islands. We had to cross the river to go from one island to another. The river was quite shallow. And then we had a guide who helped us. We formed a chain by holding hands and slowly crossed the river. It was fun but a bit dangerous too. Some of the rocks in the river bed were slippery. And so some of us actually slipped and fell, but then the fall was not that severe and we were back into action soon. We even splashed water at each other. We crossed the river 7 times and were back in the island we had started from. We took rest for some time as we waited for our dresses to dry up. Later we had lunch from a nearby place. Finally after spending some exciting and adventurous time at the Kuruva Islands, we started on our journey back to Ernakulam by around 3:30 pm.

As we entered the ghat section, we were taken aback by the wonderful sceneries of the hills. We even stopped the bus to get some snaps of the breathtaking sights. The view of the hills surrounded by fog was indeed amazing.

A Wonderful View from the Ghat

4th December 2009

We reached Ernakulam by around 2:30am. Our stay was arranged in Veega Land – the amusement park. The whole of next day was spent at Veega Land. The students had lots of fun. Finally we started our journey back to Kollam by around 6pm. And by 12:30am, we were back in college.

The trip was indeed awesome. I got some new friends and we had lots of fun together during the trip. Everyone had been so

friendly and co-operative that the tour became a grand success. And finally my desire to visit Wayanad was fulfilled. The serene beauty of Wayanad as well as the memories of the trip will always be cherished.

All thanks to the Almighty for making our trip possible without any difficulties. Also my sincere thanks to all the final year B.Sc students of TKM College of Arts and Science for letting me be one among you. You were indeed very friendly and caring. I wish you guys a very bright future. And then thanks Mom, for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. …