Whats your name ??

Ahaa, another activity that I enjoy!!. I have always been fascinated by the great names especially the nicknames that we get to hear everyday of all the people around us. Sometimes they are weird and funny but at times sweet. It all starts with our parents and we don't have any choice with that, they will call us with any just like that name which might not have any meaning at all and then are our peers who will tease on those funny names. If you are fortunate enough to have a nice name then you will be definitely renamed with a screwed up version during your schooling/college/office. But each one of us will definitely have one; I myself have about a dozen in my kitty.

When I was a kid I believed if you are born as a twin then you need to have almost the same name with just a single letter different or the second child should have a rhyming name with the elder sibling. I can cite a whole lot of examples on this - Dimple:Simple, Himani: Himanshu, Ankit:Ankita, Neha:Nehal, Akhil:Nikhil, Ajay:Vijay, Deepak:Deepika, Manish:Manisha etc etc.. Sometimes during intro sessions in family get-togethers I used to promptly interfere in between and guess the second child's name. At times I was correct and at other times would get a you crook look !! Even when my brother was born he was first called with my rhyming nickname and I was furious, had to shout on top of my voice to that aunt of my Dad to dare not say that again, thankfully she didn't. But spoilt his name many times from Ladoo to Kicky and I am still doing it ;)

But my favorite till date remains "Kut Kut", yes each time I used to tell about it to someone they would say why kut kut and not biscuit :). I still don't know how he got his name and neither has this sweetheart kut kut been able to solve the mystery, though he told me not to call him by this name anymore on public forum ;) (He is a 6ft+ guy now). Another one is my sister's nickname - tutul. I know the story behind this name. When she was born my Dad was reading a novel which had this character called 'tutul'. Now each time someone asked we used to repeat the name twice or thrice and then spell it even after that people couldn't say it. I learned a trick some years later to teach her name’s pronunciation to people --> 2 + (toolbox -box) = 2tool :) I love this name too and that is why never added didi to it...

Another advantage of nicknaming is when you have to do back biting :). I and my friends keep some secret names then gossip, making them completely unaware that these people themselves are being talked about and it has been a lot of fun. By the way we use to change these secret names frequently with new ones to remove any traces of doubt. Shanks hope you got it !!

The motivation to write this post came from a colleague of mine whom I casually asked the other day - "I was thinking of giving you a nick name and she promptly said you can call me aaloo !!" I bursted laughing. She is so used to getting that name from people that now she has started suggesting it herself!! I was giggling for a long time after this.