Monday, October 10, 2005

What’s in a name?

My name is Varkey, people ask me what it means. Depending on the person I am talking to I give different interpretations, I am a techi, and most of my friends are techis ,so I usually go with ‘The Variable Key’. Well what the heck does that mean? …seriously, I don’t know, but that seems to satisfy most of them. And why does it matter what it means, I know of ‘Santosh’ who is not really Happy, I know ‘Shanti’ who is not really very Peacful, after all it is not like choosing a Screen name for yourself where you try to project yourself… (Or what ever you want others to believe you to be), It is just a random name that your parents liked, it does not reflect on what you are or what you will be in any way.

There was a time when I used to wonder why my parents chose to name me Varkey officially, instead of my baptismal name Joseph. It was mostly because all my class mates used to find my name funny and pull my leg about it, giving it slight modifications in the process.And guess why my parents named me Varkey - ‘coz my grandpa was know as Varkey, and it is a custom among us Mallu Catholics to name the first son after the dad’s father. All my elder cousins escaped being named after our grandpa, coz he was alive when they were born, and he wouldn’t allow any of his grandsons to be named Varkey.

Being the only ‘Varkey’ in the family had its advantages; I was always my grandma’s favorite. And everyone keeps telling that I am exactly like him…. I don’t believe any of them. Though I have no clue what kind of a person my grandpa was, I have this feeling that other than the name being the same, and of course being Grandma’s Fav we are no way similar.

I feel good about my name, It is a rather old fashioned name, but it is so old that most of the younger crowd haven’t heard it, and if you are not a mallu then I don’t think none of your ancestors would have heard it either! And what does it mean? I still don’t know and neither does any one else… so now the purpose of ‘Varkey’ is exactly what it was meant to be in the first place, it is just a NAME.

I am Varkey and am known as Varkey and not ‘ABC’ which means ‘Just another name for Lord XYZ’ or ‘DEF’ which means ‘ man strong as n tigers’. Am I happy with my name, hell yeah. Will I allow my grandson to be named Varkey? … Naw...just like my Grandpa I rather like being the only Varkey in the family :)

6 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

3:26 AM  
Blogger Dinesh Babuji said...

Variable key is the best way i can relate ur name. I bet ur dad had the vision of u becoming a techie. Even my dad must have thought I shall work on Sun (Sun Microsystems) products...and he named me Dinesh meaning Sun..lol.

5:13 AM  
Blogger Varkey said...

din, for all u know ...my dad might have tot i might become a Locksmith

8:19 PM  
Blogger Ravi said...

Nice piece
P.S: Thanks for commenting on my blog and yeah, eating Dosa with a fork is blasphemy !

11:00 AM  
Blogger Rahul Munjal said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness".This is a chinese proverb,can be your parents wanted this to be true.

5:00 AM  

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