Names...

[Note: The names and person mentioned here are real, and i dont intend to make fun of those people. I know everyone has extra affection about their name. Even i hate if someone makes fun of my name. But this is just for momentary fun. If your name appears here, please dont take it seriously.]

We meet a lot of people in our life. And coz of that our brain has to use the storage a lot. For few things about the people we meet. Some of those things are face, voice, name etc. But sometimes, we first hear a name, and based on what we think about the name, we create an image of that person in mind. This image is mainly coz of some person of same name whom we have met earlier, or the characteristics, the name carries.

Recently, i was about to meet a person for my project work. He had same name as one of my uncle (actually my uncle's friend, so my uncle...). Since the time i have seen my uncle, he has thick moustache, specs with round frame (with a proper soda glass type lenses in it) and not to forget the gujarati accent while speaking. I wasn't expecting the gujarati bit when i was about to meet the other guy, but i was at least expecting the moustache and specs... When i met that guy, it was total fiasco of what i had imagined. He was just 3-4 years elder to me, had no specs, clean shaven AND he was gujarati.

Sometimes, you make an image from some name from a reknowned personality. I had to meet a guy, Pratap. Now, this name carries some aggressive kind of aura with it.. So keeping that in mind, i went for the meeting. That guy was standing next to me for about 15 mins, with just 'a bit above average' guy standing in between us. But i couldnt see him till the guy in between us left..

To consider my own example, i have an elder bro whose name is Chetan. And i have met a couple of Chetan and Bhushan siblings. But always the younger one has name Chetan. My bro always tells the other Chetan, that he is jealous of them, coz they are younger ones...

I have many examples of this type of mismatch.. Name of the tallest guy in my class in the school was Mandar, And the name of the shortest guy in my class in college was also Mandar. One of my best friend's name is Swapnil. He is extremely restless, chirpy guy. (So restless that sometimes i suspect he has ADHD). And there was another 'Swapnil' sitting next to my seat in office, whom i never used to know, when he came to desk and when he left. I came to know that he got shifted to entirely different building when i heard some noise in his cubicle...

There is a guy i know, with name Kale (means 'black' in marathi), and he was the fairest guy in my class. I met one guy, Krishna, who doesnt even talk to girls. A guy Prashant (meaning extremely silent) in my school never used to stop talking.

In bollywood, one of the most famous names is Rahul. I have met too many Rahuls till now, to make a particular image associated with the name.

What image comes to your mind, if i say Arnold? A big muscular guy who can get away with beating from a fire extinguisher and can still stand.. But, there was this guy in my class with same name, who was nearly 1/3rd or 1/4th of The Arnold.

Some names utterly confuse you, as to whom do they belong.. I mean a guy or a girl. Name of one of the most famous heroes in India is Kamal Haasan, and the name of the maid (female) working at my home is Kamal. In My college, there were a couple of guys and a girl with same name Tejas. Name of one of the most famous personality in Indian Police history is Kiran Bedi, and there is a guy 'Kiran' staying next door to me.

But there are sometimes when you are not disappointed with your imagination of the name. I have a friend, Anand. Just like his name says, he is always smiling. In fact he was smiling even when he had got caught by few seniors for ragging. There was a guy in my school Rohan Tillu who always used to sit on first bench, coz of his height. One of friend Madhura, has extremely sweet voice. So sweet, sometimes the girl sitting next to her is not able to apprehend what she is talking...

Finally, a word of caution, never judge yourself from a person with same name as yours.. Who knows, you may end up being disappointed with your own name...