On one of those luxurious days when I actually had nothing to do,I decided to go and watch the movie Namesake at the local mall. I think, I like the concept of nothingness, it is indeed a luxury to have a day where you have nothing to do and nothing to think about, which leads you in to a land of wandering thoughts and imagination.
The movie, was ok and since I had read the book earlier it was just like a pictorial representation of the book. But after the movie as I ventured into my nothingness world, my mind got me thinking about the medley of names I have been addressed with from my existence on Planet Earth.
Dhruti- This is the name my father and bua (by tradition) gave me. Dhruti means courage and determination. I like my name, and more than me my parents liked it too, so they never addressed me with a pet name, as they feared that my actual name would get lost in the pet name.
Pudding-I think for the first couple of years of my life the sweet little kid that I was,Bhuj started calling me Pudding Infact even my first birthday cake, reads Happy Birthday Pudding. I dont think at that time I understood what Pudding really meant, but I was thrilled when Bhuj took me to Pudding street. Ofcourse with Pudding there was a list of many other names like Applepie, chickoo pie etc
Pattu- When I was little over 2 years old and we lived in Haldwani, my elder cousin who is just couple of months older to me, couldn’t pronounce my name,she started calling me Pattu, and then everyone in Haldwani started calling me Pattu.
Chotan as the little one and Piddu the little teddy bear were some cute names that Dadaji gave me.
DD-I dont quite recollect how I got this name. But I think we were going on a Rotaract trip and than some my friends started calling me Dangerous Dhruti, District Dhruti. DD. Of course the various abbreviations for DD followed
Daku DD -I think Daku was a name I gave myself, once I learnt about the fascinating Daku rehab stories in my family
The name destroyers, who could never prounounce my name
Daruti
Dhotar
Shruti
Kruti
Truti
Jyoti
Dorothy
Dhrooti
Babyji- Our servants in Haldwani used to address me
Bitya, Beta- From shopkeepers to bus conductors, acquaintances, to relatives to even some my younger friends. Infact I loved the way the old man my guide for one of the monuments in Lucknow kept addressing me as Bitya
Gudiya- This is a new one, I remember in Lucknow I was walking around a monument, and there was this family from a village who had probably come for the first time to a city and the head of the family he said Gudiya, "Yaah se Doosra Maqbara kitna dor hai", and again when I bumped into the family at another place, they kept calling me Gudiya.I like that
D- This is the shorter version for Didi, and my younger cousins call me D and I quite like it.
Dhruti Masi- Oh that sounds so sweet, when my young nieces and nephews( which are very few) and my friends kids call me that
Aunty- I obviously hate people calling me that , but guess I cant run away from the fact that I am an aunt to some people
Bhabiji- Hated it when the vegetable vendor called me that and warned him that I would never buy vegetables from him if he called me that
Behenji
Didi
Madam
Maam
Madamjee
Sisterjee
Aapa
Brother
List can go on, I guess, but what’s interesting is that one person can be called by so many different names in a short life span
