A Rose By Any Other Name...

Did any of you ever want to change your name? For the longest time, I did. During my tween and teen years, I hated my name. I felt it didn't have rhythm, poetry or exoticism. Even the meaning sucked. I would daydream about changing my name to something classical sounding, like 'Amrapali' or lyrical, like 'Mrittika' or 'Kuhelika'. But since I knew I never would, I put them down on the 'Names For My Daughter' list, inside my head. (I have two boys, so we all know how that turned out.)

Then I made peace with the name my parents hurriedly put on my birth certificate. In fact, I learned to find some semblance of music in it thanks to a college senior who knew Sanskrit. She broke it down and explained what the different syllables meant. The result was so lovely! That certainly made my name shine in my eyes and ring in my ears!

But now, after years, I wish my name was different. And not one of those names that I used to fantasize about in my youth. I wanted my name to be Aditi! And the irony there is that I studied in an educational institution bearing the same name and I always thought that it was a weird name for a school! Anyway, the reason for this, my latest craziness, is really quite simple. A song. A beautiful song that I listen to 55 times a day! The song is 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' from the movie 'Jaane Tu...Yaa Jaane Naa'.

What a gorgeous song! The tune, the lyrics, the mood! I can't sit still when it happens, my shoulders get a life of their own and start moving to the song's rhythm divine. There's such a sense of sweetness in the song and now that I've seen the movie, I feel it even more. If my name were Aditi and if the darling Man I Married could sing, I would get him to serenade me with the song everyday, all day, if possible!

But sigh! Sadly, my name is not Aditi. Not even remotely. And no one is ever going to write a song for me. So, I guess I'll just pretend.

That's good enough, isn't it?