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Sigma Gama Beta..!!!


I opened my mail box and picked this wedding invitation which read “Biju Mon weds Biju Mol”. I starred at it for a sec, re-read and burst out laughing. Hahaa.. What a perfect match, if the last alphabet is ignored, two people with the same names are getting married!

How did Biju Mon’s mom pick this name? Perhaps she was given a few alphabets, out of which she was asked to pick just four. Luckily she picked a vowel; else it would have been even more hilarious..!! May be the same theory applies to my friends Siby & Jijesh & Shijeesh & Lipil and and and and...

You are given the liberty to choose and not to choose a lot of things in life; but not a name for yourself - one of the few instances in life where you are not given an option (of course, until you take pains to change the original).

I wonder why people make up really weird names and spellings and saddle their children for life? May be parents think they are being creative and unique. But, for the child, all it is a life long sentence of correcting people of the pronunciation of their name and having their names always being misspelled. Like my friend Nigil corrects every second person he gets introduced to, "It is 'ni' as in Nycil power and not 'ni' as in pneumonia!" 


Now, here are few of my friends who have very talented parents.

Sigma, my best friend is very interesting, yeah...just like her name - extremely peculiar too :) When ever I talk about Sigma, I tell them.. “By the way.. do you know her sisters’ names are Sismi and Sayoomi and her dog (who is now dead) was called Simba!!” Can I blame this person who asked her once, “Oh.. Are your parents from Greece?" Seniors enjoy asking the same question everyday to her sister, “Sismi.. will you kiss me?!”

When I met this girl in the hostel corridor for the first time, we shook hands while she introduced herself, “I am Chimmu”. Seeing my face crumble at her name, she said with a smile, “My dad was innovative that he named me Chimmu, so that it rhymes well with my sister Ammu..!!" When everybody turned their backs, I slowly murmured, “Meaw…!!” and chuckled to myself.

The method followed to name my cousin is fascinating. The first two alphabets from the names of mom and dad were picked, assembled and they passionately called her, “Ragi.. you are our baby!” Ragi, however is extremely proud of her name. Cuckoo - another friend of mine with a very special name. Don't know if she is named after the bird or after the famous english clock!! And her sister is Kitty. I tried to investigate the roots of the origin.. but reached nowhere. I still cannot believe somebody will name their own children like they naming parrots and kittens.

I know what “shy” means in English and “mol” is a mallu word. How could somebody even think of combining two conflicting words from two different languages and form a name out of it! After all, you are naming your own daughter! That's how Shymol 
was born.

The most unbelievable names I have heard so far are of three sisters – Bulby, Switchy and Pluggy. When I heard the names first, I fell off the chair and asked in distrust, “Who works for the electricity department? Mom or dad or grand dad?”

If few of the above naming formulas were applied, Rajiv Gandhi would have called Rahul and Priyanka, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha :)


Do you also want to share the names of your friends you think are out-of-the-world?

18 comments:

*~D~* said...

bulby switchy and pluggy???!!!! woaah!! ROFL ROFL ROFL..

Anonymous said...

How abt these 3 sisters who were named Republic, Democratic and Independent? Hey.... they are not french, but INDIANS..!!
Lets salute their parents! :-)

Anonymous said...

My name is Shymol.
In 1981 ,there came a beautiful story of a girl named "Shymol" in a Weekly magazine from Kerala.
My grandfather was fascinated by this story which prompted him to give this name to his first granddaughter.
Then he didn't had the capability of splitting the name and thinking what was in English and what was in Malayalam.
So every name needn't be based on some meaning but rather there is a still deeper meaning to it.

Anonymous said...

Oh my God...!!! Yet another SHYMOL? I don't believe this! :-)

sajinrp said...

three sisters – Bulby, Switchy and Pluggy !!!
Are you joking?
huh !
i think u missed lotsa other names from ur frnds list (countless)..lol :-D !!

jomesh said...

this is where exactly the idea of 'idea' works... everyone must be 'named' using numbers.. .

:)

- 260580

Deepak keloth said...

how about my friend "Boby", who got married to "Lovely", and then on his wife's full name made him proud - "Lovely Boby"
LOL .. :D

Pink Mango Tree said...

Sajin, Jomesh & Deepak - Thanks for visiting my blog.

Yes yes... I would have added ur name. But now that I believe your clarification - that 'Sajin' means "person with untainted heart", i discard the idea! ;) ;)

Naming by numbers V/S Jomesh-Brijesh-Jijesh: I think I prefer the latter. ;) ;) ;)

Wow.. I love it - Lovely Bobby! Lemme try forming more pairs - Gypsy Tommy, Merry Jerry, Cutie Cherry...!! Wow i love it. Thanks Deepak! :)

Vidya said...

How come I missed this blog??ROFL...
bulby, switchy and pluggy....thats really funny....Is it real?? or some masala added????
I guess I should have thought technically while naming Ammu and Vasu.....may be RAM and ROM.....(lol)

Shameel said...

U can count me too.. All my childhood I was Shamil n wen applying for my 10th exam I took my passport n found out that I am Shameel. Now I gave the rare honor u mentioned. "Shameer?" Nopes Shameel with n L.. Shameen?.. No u moron!!@&#%.. L as in Lion.. Oh.. Ok ShameeN.. I was like, ok whatever.

Shalini, ironic that rt now I'm standin in a queue to get my daughter's birth certificate. I bet I'll b asked that same thing even though they've the certificates screaming my name out.. Btw, we named her Minha yest. Ohh no.. Don't say here goes the same thing again.. It means Gift in Arabic. She is one special gift for us.

ashwin said...

LOL... chechi, u r better each time u write,,,
and all these names,,woahh !!! just to name a few friends i have, mansu (which is OK, but her sis name is sinsu), and one called kitty(a guys name :O)...and the last..believe it or not,,his name is
......Hookins Prabhakaran...

Divya said...

am sure cuckoo is still unaware of this......:)

tooo good ......

Aishwarya V said...

The last piece was too good!

Pink Mango Tree said...

@ Vidya - RAM MOl and ROM Mon! Wow... hehee... Even then, it is better than 'Chinthav' :P

@ Shameel - I know... one fine day, u became Shameel and we classmates wondered why!!! And instead of Lion, u should have said, L as in "Lungi"! Malyalees would have understood that better! :P
And Minha is a beautiful name... Ragi's (the one mentioned in this post) daughter is Nidhi. Forget the language... if not exactly the same, it is more or less the same! :)

@ ashwin - Thanks a ton! :) Hookins Prabhakaran - ROFL. Eee Prabhakarettante oru karyam!!! :)

@ Divya - I had shared this with Cuckoo 2 years back. And she said she would share it with her dad cos he is the culprit! :)

@ Aishwarya - Thanks! Aby, Biby, Ciby, Diby' - awesome brothers!!! Next time u meet them, please convey my regards :P

jijesh janardhanan said...

shalini..

i had told u this in our class gettogether.
i am marrying a person cald Riji.
and my family cal me Ciji.

so in few months time there would be an invitation to u which says
'Ciji weds Riji' .wat say ? -:)

and the electrical dept joke was superb.

Anonymous said...

all this coming frm someone named after a 80's TV series .....now that's something funny

A Simple Pendulum said...

Oh my!!! If I knew about this post earlier, I would not have posted any comments here. ;)

Btw, Shalini, I am reading all your blogs from the oldest and just reached here. Was not commenting on any. Thought, will leave you a personal message or a message on the last blog to let you know when I am done. But, when I read this, I could not stop myself from writing a comment here. :D

Unknown said...

Super late I am, I know.. but couldn't help it.. My parents just received a wedding invite a couple of days back. Limey weds Mathew, it said. This 'Limey' is some distant relative. The funnier part was the end of the invite - With best complements from 'Lousy' and 'Lipney'.. Like seriously, who would name their children 'Limey', 'LOUSY' and 'LIPNEY'??

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