What's Your Name again?

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
-Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)  

Would Brad Pitt and George Clooney or for that matter the goddess of beauty- Scarlett Johansson be the same if they didn't had their names. These names are synonymous with the exceptional good looks and charm.

What if I had Brad Pitt for name? I am sure it would have made a world of difference to my mundane and humdrum life (who don't like chicks screech when they see you and not to mention Jennifer and Angelina).

I never liked my name and I hated the fact that my name rhymed with my brothers name (it made me feel queasy). I secretively wished I had his name, his name is Vimal (he had a bit of air about his name) - when we were growing up, 'Only Vimal' was the most knows and advertised brand after Lalitaji's 'Surf' on tele.

My school was about two miles from my village and it was seven of us who used to troop to school each morning in tow: Kamal-Vimal, Ajaj-Vijay, Sanjeev-Manjeet and then we had Inderdeep who I felt was lucky not to have a brother with a name which rhymed with his name (he had a sister). We used to walk through the apple orchards, into the deodar and pine forest, past the D.F.O office, down the hill, past the hospital and there we were ready to take on the challenge from the sibling pair of Hatinder-Ratinder, Anjana-Ranjana, Deeraj-Neeraj etc. Damn! Was it a trend in the late 70's and early 80's to have 2 kids and have rhyming names for them?

I asked my mommy sometime back, what was she thinking when she named me. Pat came the reply - 'you lucky, I didn't name you Moti Ram as suggested by a wandering sadhu who happened to visit the village when I was pregnant with you'. As a rejoined she added that he also said - the kid would be intelligent and smart and he was completely wrong. That shut me up!

Today, a friend messaged me. 'This is my new phone number. Pushpinder. a.k.a 'PAT'.