Very many people, in the course of their lives, acquire or are given names very different from the ones they have been given at birth. So often these names stick, much more than the original names.
I remember very well one of my students while I was doing my first year practical training in Kondadaba. My Telugu was not at all good then and the students English was not any better! So at times I used to explain concepts and lessons using some Telugu. Often I'd get stuck but they'd help me out with words and we fared well together. On one such occasion I was using the analogy of horses and carriages, but got stuck for want of knowing the Telugu word for 'blinders'. I tried my best and showed the class using my open palms besides my eyes. Mariadas, sitting right at the first desk, in his enthusiasm shouted, "kommulu" (horns, in Telugu)! We all burst out laughing - horns on horses?! Ever since he was called 'kommulu' Mariadas. Today he is a priest in the archdiocese of Visakhapatnam and his companions still refer to him as 'kommulu' Mariadas!
Fr Michael was narrating of times when he was a boy and those entering the aspirantate would change their names to avoid confusion. If a boy named James entered the aspirantate and there'd already be someone with that name, he'd be asked to choose a closest alternative. Say he'd choose 'George'. And next year there'd join a boy named 'George' and the poor guy would have to change his name!
Another boy at school was called 'Armpit'. Of course, that was not his name. But that's what he was called all his school time. It so happened that on the first day at school when asked by the teacher for his name, he announced, 'Am Peter'. However to others it sounded 'Am-pit' and that was it!
Then there was this boy in another school who was called Archie by all at school. Even his parents called him Archie. But that was not his name at all. Neither did anyone, not even his parents, know why at all he was called Archie! But that was how he was called by everyone all his life.
I remember very well one of my students while I was doing my first year practical training in Kondadaba. My Telugu was not at all good then and the students English was not any better! So at times I used to explain concepts and lessons using some Telugu. Often I'd get stuck but they'd help me out with words and we fared well together. On one such occasion I was using the analogy of horses and carriages, but got stuck for want of knowing the Telugu word for 'blinders'. I tried my best and showed the class using my open palms besides my eyes. Mariadas, sitting right at the first desk, in his enthusiasm shouted, "kommulu" (horns, in Telugu)! We all burst out laughing - horns on horses?! Ever since he was called 'kommulu' Mariadas. Today he is a priest in the archdiocese of Visakhapatnam and his companions still refer to him as 'kommulu' Mariadas!
Fr Michael was narrating of times when he was a boy and those entering the aspirantate would change their names to avoid confusion. If a boy named James entered the aspirantate and there'd already be someone with that name, he'd be asked to choose a closest alternative. Say he'd choose 'George'. And next year there'd join a boy named 'George' and the poor guy would have to change his name!
Another boy at school was called 'Armpit'. Of course, that was not his name. But that's what he was called all his school time. It so happened that on the first day at school when asked by the teacher for his name, he announced, 'Am Peter'. However to others it sounded 'Am-pit' and that was it!
Then there was this boy in another school who was called Archie by all at school. Even his parents called him Archie. But that was not his name at all. Neither did anyone, not even his parents, know why at all he was called Archie! But that was how he was called by everyone all his life.
No comments:
Post a Comment