NAMESAKE

                                             NAMESAKE

I used to think that we waste our time, energy  and debate so much to give a name to a newborn until I met a scholarly and philosopher person Sharma Ji, who compelled me to think otherwise.

He told me “Why we drop our letters only in the postbox? Does the addressee stay there? Because we believe that this is the beginning of the process of reaching the letter to the addressee. ”

I said “I do not get you. What that has got to do with the name of a person.”

With his usual calmness Sharma ji said, "The body is the casing of a soul. Every soul when born is assigned a trajectory path by the Almighty. The name is just like the convention one follows in naming a file; also it is the codified form of that assigned trajectory which the Almighty conveys deep in the subconscious minds of the persons who start thinking to assign a name. In a way, Naming is the beginning of the mission for which a soul assumes a physical shape.”

I still had doubts and asked him “I can show you here more than Five Yudhistirs who are known liars and if some day a light breeze may blow away my driver Hercules, I won’t be surprised.”

With smiles in his face he said “our bank is diametrically opposite to the main market.  Many times from our camp, instead of taking left turn towards market, we turn right towards bank. Because if we do not get money from the bank we cannot do our assigned task of Marketing. If you remember Ramayana, Ratanakar and Valmiki are the names of same person. So if the name appears to be a misnomer, wait and see.”

We had a day long discussion and debate and he told me that a name might be valid for the   literal meaning or it could be a combination of a (latent or active) supernatural vibration and the former. Also as the life advances, a person may get some other name or names. He said” If you do not get a direct bus to Raipur, You take some other means or bus to Jagdalpur and from there you board other bus to reach Raipur.”  

I was so much convinced that on return to my camp,  opened the brown pages of boyhood day’s diary about the names of our brothers and sisters.

My grandma gave the name to all of us along with a ceremony. All these names are in some way are also the names of things  for daily Puja of Devi Durga.

 Long before, we were known as a royal family. Devi Durga is our presiding deity at the ancestral Village home. My brothers and sisters are named by Grandma  as  Sonkho( Conch),  Alpana( Rongoli) and my name is Pradip; this is the main big Deepak consisting of many Deepaks attached to big brass stand. During Maha-arati when it is lighted all other lights except the Diyas near the goddess were put off.

I am quite baffled here. Although brought up in a very religious environment, I am never an orthodox Hindu. I believe very seriously that worshiping can be done by closing or opening your hands or by touching your heart or by any other way. I never think that my way of worshipping God is the best and others are to be put off.

In my profession,  to be a successful geologist you have to listen and give equal importance of other’s views besides your own view. 

I asked Sharmaji about my doubts and he smiled,"Just think of it for some more time, you will get the answer.” I could not get it from him, as one day he suddenly left us  forever.

 My team rediscovered some Iron ore deposits, and some small mine developed copper mineralization and finally a regional discovery of a big deposit of Nickel in Indonesia. I was awarded Ph.D for my research work for a method improvement and mathematical modeling of ore reserve estimation.

I do not know if all these could put some dim light like a small Diya. If so, then I am happy for my name and If Sharmaji was around, I could have told him so.

I was happy with my name till a  friend of my late father told me something, which I did not know before.

My father was a rational man and he disliked any religious bias. When I was born, he was in the Police training college as he got his long waited promotion. He knew that my naming would be made by his mother (Grandma) with a religious bias.

He was an ardent fan of Film star Pradip Kumar   and became very happy when I was named as Pradip.(Kumar, as per our family system is common to all boys but not Kumari to girls.) However our parents   never told any of us about this angle of my name.  

strangely, I was very much active in debates, speech competition and drama from school to college life and some part of my service life in Baildilla(in Chhatisgarh, near Dantewada) and Mossabani. I was more inclined in writing script and to another hobby; writing lyrics of songs.

Except few directors, I do not see films at all and I never saw any film of Pradip Kumar although I heard he was a great actor. Sadly, in my family nobody neither   discouraged nor encouraged my stage performances. One of my bosom friend,  a very successful actress, Film director and editor of a Magazine, requested me to write scripts for her TV serials but I could not make it.

I remember only faintly, once my father told me if I ever wanted to translate my dream into reality he would stand by it. I could not follow that he wanted me to be a Film actor. However he believed in personal freedom and I did what I wanted to do.
 I only disliked this part of my name just for this sake. This part of Namesake shall ever remain with me as a sad shake.
(This is an entry to 7 th edition of Indispire of indiblogger.in)