What’s in the name?
No, I am not going
ahead with the remaining part of the quote by the bard aka Shakespeare. It’s so
schoolish to write a blog, that you take a quote, any quote, by some famous
author, writer, orator, philosopher anybody for that matter but notably well
heard, make some jugglery of words around whatever he has said and deliver a
blog without real pains. I rather would like to start it with a joke that goes
like this.
American when gets
spare time, uses his credit card beyond his reach and tries to live life as
rich as possible by wining, dining and womanizing. He is just not bothered
about his ancestors. For him, it’s, ‘Today’. Englishman on the contrary, breaks
his head in searching, ‘Who was his maternal great grand uncle in the queen’s
paraphernalia?’ Frenchman tries to find, 'Who his father was', gives up in
exasperation and turns to the sidewalk café for his quota of wine and baguette.
Me? It was accidental
for me!
I never liked my name
as well as my surname in school days, when very young and not exactly abhorred
but detested as a young adult. It’s a human tendency that at one tier you want to
belong to but at other you want to keep your identity as far as possible
unique. ‘I am so and so but I am not like them!’And it was to happen with me
too!
I was enrolled in the
school by my maternal uncle because of his connections and he made the
mistakes. I did not/don’t have a birth certificate so the birth date put was
ambiguous while the name instead of Shashikant was put as Shashikumar. In the
end, my name became a train with extra bogies on either side. Shashikumar
Narayan Benurwar and how I detested it! I could do something about my name but
the surname stuck up with me because my parents and siblings use the same
surname. On changing the name to original one, a peculiar situation arose. So the father of my firstborn is Shashikumar while younger one tells her father to be
Shashikant. While my wife’s husband at one place was Shashikant at others it
was Shashikumar. It took months and lots of efforts to bring unanimity on all
the fronts, [My son is still sore on the subject], though my wife retired as
Shashikumar as her husband!
My surname is very
uncommon in western Maharashtra, so the basic problem faced by the
interrogator always was’ ‘Where to put me?’ Our society does run on a caste
basis, whatever anybody likes to believe, for or against? My dilemma always
became apparent in such situations. At home it was never discussed on a war
footing; it was simplified just as Brahmins and Non-Brahmins. So I did come to
know about the caste system only after I took admission to the Medical school. But as
the surname was so unique I did not know how to face the question mark on the
face of the person trying to judge me. As I said earlier, I wanted to belong
but Not at the same juncture! They used to deduct their conclusions after
listening to my diction and the company of friends I kept! Whenever it was too much for me, I used to come out and that created more puzzles for
him/her. My ultimate reaction used to be, ‘whatever!’ Maybe after going through
the same rigmarole repeatedly, I gradually started veering towards, ‘I belong’
status. Rather it was forced on me.
When I came to
Mumbai, a huge cauldron that dissolves your caste, every caste, I ultimately
was at ease with myself, rather my surname! On the contrary, because it’s so
unique and ambiguous I started liking it as it did not disclose my identity at
first go and I was at liberty to disclose it or not on my terms!
And the Englishman
within me who ruled us for centuries suddenly woke up. I felt, though I should
not pride in but at least should know from where did these ‘Benurwars’ come, I
started enquiring around but drew a blank. Though it seems that they came from a
place [because of semblance in the names], ‘Rani Bennur’ in today’s Karnataka,
we definitely are not Kannadigas as nobody spoke Kannada in many generations
before. Our mother tongue is /was always Marathi. Surprisingly my paternal aunt
who is in her 90s too could not elaborate beyond her generation. The
application that was not available a few decades ago is doing wonders in such
situations. I was told, ‘Just Google it’
And I just Googled
it. To my surprise, Pandora’s Box was opened. No, I did not get what I wanted
but under Benurwar, there were more than 100 entries and it asked my permission
to display more!
As of now, we are only
7 Benurwars from my father’s branch. 8th one is so young! And
amongst 5 of us, we had more than 100 entries. My niece’s and son’s research
papers topped the bill. Both have international publications on their names. My
wife and daughter for their exemplary work in their respective fields. I was
there for my profession, paintings and blogs. Most surprising was the mention
of my only published novel ‘The Heir’ being available in America, Malaysia,
Singapore, Australia and surprisingly in Scandinavian countries too. But the cherry
on the cake was taken away by China. It’s available in China for more than 1800
Yuan!
I love my surname
Benurwar, it’s so unique!
