Titas ekti nodir naam........
I am Titas. A bong. When i was born I was the 1st kid in my generation in the entire household. So everybody in my family wanted to have a say in selecting a name for me. In their enthusiasm, they argued, they persuaded each other and then fought to prescribe their favourite names for me. Finally a consensus was sought to zero in on a name. This name turned out to be ...TITAS. Originally suggested by my Mashi, this finally got the unanimous consensus because of its sonorousity and uncommon genealogy. It still is.
The first time when people hear my name they either raise their eyebrows or twitch their ears and some wonder what a great name it is. Others have no clue what to make out of it. The pronunciation of the name is Titash. We bengalis pronounce Sa as Sha...for us all the three are SHAs.
Bengalis love uncommon names....we are known for this. Anywhere you go with a name like this and people are bound to ask ..."Hey, are you a Bengali by any chance"... and we grin and feel proud about our uniqueness of keeping such nice uncommon meaningful names (though it can be disastrous sometimes... soon I will come to that).
So...my name becomes a talking point after most introductions...I have enjoyed having a name that is quite unique and have always used it to my advantage. I have deliberately used it to break ice with complete strangers . Most times, it has generated curiosity, aroused interest and few eyebrows too.
Bengalis however react differently, the first thing after hearing my name, they tend to exclaim "Oh!! Titasssshhh..Titas ekti nodir naam." Ok let me tell you here, that my name takes after a river, which flows through Eastern Bangladesh from Tripura in India. Its a small river but very very significant. 'Titash Ekti Nadir Naam', or 'A River Called Titas', is a 1973 Bangladeshi film directed by Ritwik Ghatak. The movie was based on a novel by the same name, written by Advaita Malla Burman. The film won a lot of accolades despite being an arty sort of a movie, hence to most Bengalis this name immediately brought back memories of the film or the novel. I have never struggled ever to explain my name to the Bongs.
Alas! beyond the bong land, the name has been mis-spelt, misunderstood and awfully mishandled. We shifted our base from Kolkata to Mumbai (Bombay then) some 20 years back. Overnight, this uncommon, sweet, nice meaningful name of mine started giving me a tough time. It still does. Though it maintained its weight in terms of an ice-breaker but I had to repeat myself a few times before people got the hang of it. It became a DISASTER!
I remember an interview once where after clearing the 1st two rounds, we were asked to participate in a group discussion. We were given a topic to talk and everyone was getting their chance. Then it came down to me. My name was called!!! "Tight-ass".....What an embarrassment it was. I mean how could the sweet nice name of mine turns into a TIGHT-ASS!! I stood up and corrected them, but I could feel the sneer in the group participants eyes after being called Tight-ass! Since then a few disasters has recurred in many instances by multiple people.
My friend Shweta's mother, picked up the phone when I happened to call her. I had to introduce myself and had to repeat my name 5- 6 times. And then finally she said "Oh so you are Aakash". Jesus! Why would I be Aakash. I corrected her once again. And then she came with another blow.."Ok ok..so you are Prakash". By now I was furious. I had lost it completely, I mean how on earth somebody calls me Aakash and Prakash!!! I retorted back, "hey! do I sound like Usha Utthup...come on"!!! I finally had to hang up...it was no use correcting her.
Then there was this Kannada gynaecologist who used to treat me during my 2nd pregnancy. She kept on calling me "Tit-us" through out my pregnancy term. I kind of left it there. I knew, no matter how much I bang my head with them...my name would never get pronounced correctly. Most Gujju friends and acquaintances would go like "Tit-ass". Wow! What a transformation of A River called Titas!!!
Many years back, I had taken an admission to a computer course. Frustrated after being called by many names, I agreed to be called Titz.
Now, I insist people to pronounce my name the correct way. And I don't give up till they pronounce it correct. After all, I take a lot of pride in my name.
To some of those people, who have questioned over the years "whats in a name?" I tell them, my name is who I am. My name depicts me, the person. I identify with my name. "Titas"....ekti nodir naam.
I am Titas. A bong. When i was born I was the 1st kid in my generation in the entire household. So everybody in my family wanted to have a say in selecting a name for me. In their enthusiasm, they argued, they persuaded each other and then fought to prescribe their favourite names for me. Finally a consensus was sought to zero in on a name. This name turned out to be ...TITAS. Originally suggested by my Mashi, this finally got the unanimous consensus because of its sonorousity and uncommon genealogy. It still is.
The first time when people hear my name they either raise their eyebrows or twitch their ears and some wonder what a great name it is. Others have no clue what to make out of it. The pronunciation of the name is Titash. We bengalis pronounce Sa as Sha...for us all the three are SHAs.
Bengalis love uncommon names....we are known for this. Anywhere you go with a name like this and people are bound to ask ..."Hey, are you a Bengali by any chance"... and we grin and feel proud about our uniqueness of keeping such nice uncommon meaningful names (though it can be disastrous sometimes... soon I will come to that).
So...my name becomes a talking point after most introductions...I have enjoyed having a name that is quite unique and have always used it to my advantage. I have deliberately used it to break ice with complete strangers . Most times, it has generated curiosity, aroused interest and few eyebrows too.
Bengalis however react differently, the first thing after hearing my name, they tend to exclaim "Oh!! Titasssshhh..Titas ekti nodir naam." Ok let me tell you here, that my name takes after a river, which flows through Eastern Bangladesh from Tripura in India. Its a small river but very very significant. 'Titash Ekti Nadir Naam', or 'A River Called Titas', is a 1973 Bangladeshi film directed by Ritwik Ghatak. The movie was based on a novel by the same name, written by Advaita Malla Burman. The film won a lot of accolades despite being an arty sort of a movie, hence to most Bengalis this name immediately brought back memories of the film or the novel. I have never struggled ever to explain my name to the Bongs.
Alas! beyond the bong land, the name has been mis-spelt, misunderstood and awfully mishandled. We shifted our base from Kolkata to Mumbai (Bombay then) some 20 years back. Overnight, this uncommon, sweet, nice meaningful name of mine started giving me a tough time. It still does. Though it maintained its weight in terms of an ice-breaker but I had to repeat myself a few times before people got the hang of it. It became a DISASTER!
I remember an interview once where after clearing the 1st two rounds, we were asked to participate in a group discussion. We were given a topic to talk and everyone was getting their chance. Then it came down to me. My name was called!!! "Tight-ass".....What an embarrassment it was. I mean how could the sweet nice name of mine turns into a TIGHT-ASS!! I stood up and corrected them, but I could feel the sneer in the group participants eyes after being called Tight-ass! Since then a few disasters has recurred in many instances by multiple people.
My friend Shweta's mother, picked up the phone when I happened to call her. I had to introduce myself and had to repeat my name 5- 6 times. And then finally she said "Oh so you are Aakash". Jesus! Why would I be Aakash. I corrected her once again. And then she came with another blow.."Ok ok..so you are Prakash". By now I was furious. I had lost it completely, I mean how on earth somebody calls me Aakash and Prakash!!! I retorted back, "hey! do I sound like Usha Utthup...come on"!!! I finally had to hang up...it was no use correcting her.
Then there was this Kannada gynaecologist who used to treat me during my 2nd pregnancy. She kept on calling me "Tit-us" through out my pregnancy term. I kind of left it there. I knew, no matter how much I bang my head with them...my name would never get pronounced correctly. Most Gujju friends and acquaintances would go like "Tit-ass". Wow! What a transformation of A River called Titas!!!
Many years back, I had taken an admission to a computer course. Frustrated after being called by many names, I agreed to be called Titz.
Now, I insist people to pronounce my name the correct way. And I don't give up till they pronounce it correct. After all, I take a lot of pride in my name.
To some of those people, who have questioned over the years "whats in a name?" I tell them, my name is who I am. My name depicts me, the person. I identify with my name. "Titas"....ekti nodir naam.
