Tuesday, October 16, 2007

A tag from Dawn

Thanks to Dawn for passing this tag to me and making the possibility of a post in my blog after a long gap.

As in every tag, the rules first!

1. One has to post these rules before one gives out the facts.

2. One must list one fact that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of their middle name. If one doesn’t have a middle name, they can use the middle name that they would have liked to have

3. At the end of there post, they will have to choose one person for each letter of their middle name to tag. And make sure that each tagged person is notified about this via commenting on there blogs.

An interesting, yet difficult tag, at least for me. It is difficult because there is so much confusion with my name. The First Name, Middle Name and the Last Name - naming convention is of western origin and it becomes really difficult to apply it in the east (at least in India). Babies to inherit their father’s first name as their last name and married women to inherit their husband’s first name as their last name, babies inheriting their Surname from the family name or caste name or clan name and finally, all these chaos only results in the significance of the orgional name getting lost. The irony is, my TC (Transfer Certificate) has my name as M.Sivakumar, my passport has it as Sivakumar Manoharan, my voter id has it as Sivakumar, PAN Card (Permanent Account Number for Income Tax) has it as Sivakumar M. When I produce any of these 2 as proof (one as Photo Identification and the other as proof for Date of Birth or proof of Address) there is always a contradiction. To add to this confusion, there exists 3 more cousins with Sivakumar as their name and my name was prefixed with my native place and so to be called as Kodaikanal Siva. In spite of so many Sivakumars at school, there was less confusion as the Roll numbers were predominantly used for identification. However, during some competition, when it came to have the names printed in the t-shirts, I got my name printed in the reverse order as AVIS, to sound like a brand that existing in those times. Coming to work there was yet another Siva and hence, I am to be called as Kumar.

What is a Name? A means to identify an individual? I don’t think so! There are more individuals than the names under the sun. RFID Tags would be most appropriate to identify the uniqueness than the names. I believe, Name is a bridge to relate a person with another and hence is a form of Ego. A name is for others to call us by, where as the ego is for us to call ourselves. Name is the first sheath that is imposed on a person born into this world and we start relating the person with the name, its meaning, its numerology, its popularity, and finally inculcate the qualities of these factors and imitate them.The Kids are named with the assumption that, they would like the way they are called by and hence, if it is not meeting their expectations, they should be allowed to change their names at will. This tag especially gives me an opportunity to think as to how I would want myself to be called as and to add some significance to the name.

A tag extended from Dawn should start with a quote! As Gandhiji quoted “Be the change you want to see”, let me deduce the attributes that I want to see in me from the letters of the name I wish to be called as – SHIVA.

S – Saatvic – To attain the noblest of the three gunas
H – Himalayas – To live in the abode of Shiva, even when in a market place
I – Ishta – To and to be loved
V – Vairagya - To be able Discriminate, Detach and Renounce
A – AUM – To live in the Truth

Rules are rules!

Let me pass on this Tag to

Shirsha