Mannar & Co Thangavelu is my latest alias

Long-time readers of my blog would be aware that I work out of two different offices in this city. Of course, I have used the word “work” in a very loose manner, but as long as I am employed, I guess I am entitled to say so.

And that brings me directly to the topic of this blog. You see, for the last 6-7 weeks, I have been working out of the office closer home and in fact, I haven’t visited the one near Chengalpet in almost 4 weeks now! The reason why I am doing this is because I don’t have a team per se for this said period and am doing a fair amount of pre-sales work – both of which allow for location flexibility.

Anyways, a couple of days back, my mother asked me if I was still employed. Quite shocked by her question, I asked her the logic behind that query. Her simple reasoning was that I must have been fired and in my endeavour to maintain an “image” at home and to society, I was pretending to go to office daily. Pretty much what the great Thangavelu did in Kalyana Parisu as a Manager in Mannar & Co. You can check that comedy scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRwJu2jROLc&feature=BFa&list=PL3432E88AF6BBE40D

Things have reached the stage where she has started calling me Thangavelu!

What is in a (team) name?

I am not going to support the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL. There are two reasons:
1. I just don't like the name at all.
2. Actor Vijay is going to be like the brand ambassador for the team.

The second reason is quite straight-forward and I see no reason why that beggar (or loafer or road-side romeo or porikki or idly moonji or any other adjective you want to give him) should be officially associated with this cricket team.

Even if I can somehow look beyond this janthu, I still cant accept the name they have given to the Chennai team. They irony was that the owners of the franchise actually ran an open contest to choose a name. And the best that they could come up with was "Super Kings"?

It is just an amalgamation of two words just because it is grammatically possible to do so. What the hell does it convey? How do you associate Chennai with Kings. This is probably one of the few cities in this country which cannot be immediately linked to a dynasty or even a Kingdom. So why bring in "Kings" to Chennai? If the idea is that the Chennai team would rule the IPL, then they could have just left it as Chennai Kings. But like Raghu mentioned so long ago in this article, the Super word had to be thrown in the mix.

Probably, the franchise owners were also thinking about the other Chennai cricket team (in ICL) that calls itself the Chennai Super Stars. At least, Super Stars means something. Its a word used a lot in the Movie world and Chennai is definitely the capital for movies in South India. But Super Kings? I just don't see it.

Anyways, for that competition that the franchise owners conducted, I made quite a few entries and I have listed a few that I remember. Of the lot, I thought the first one had a good chance of making it! The general rule I followed was:
1. Should be able to relate to something in Chennai
2. Should stand for something powerful

1. Chennai Cyclones
2. Chennai Heat (Duh!)
3. Chennai Champions
4. Chennai Gillies (derived from the Chennai slang Gilli)
5. Chennai Heroes

I came up with around 20 names but am not able to remember any of the others. But one thing I really felt was that I couldn't relate anything to Chennai.

P.S: I am not going to support this team for the reasons indicated above. Also, I am not exactly a fan of Dhoni or Hayden either. Needless to add, I cannot support the Kolkatta team due to the SRK factor, though it has some of the best bowling talent in the game. Will not support a team that has Sachin, so Mumbai is also ruled out. I will probably end up rooting for Bangalore or Hyderabad.

Whats in a name? Part two (conclusion)

So, time for my nicknames... Obviously, I will be able to comment only about the names that I am aware of and not the ones that you use when referring to me in my absence.

The earliest one I was given, I believe is "MKT". Which is the short form for one of the earliest Tamil movie demi-gods - M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. I did have long curly hair and this reminded many people of MKT and thus the name.

Then in the "international" school that I studied, the name I can recollect was "pooshanikkai". Yes, not surprisingly, I was a fat kid. Not morbidly obese at any stage, but fat for sure. I cannot remember any other name from that school.

When I joined VM, it was class VI. Thats when the History books started talking about the evolution of the human species. So when talks of homo sapiens, Neanderthal Man, Peaking Man etc came up, Java Man was also one species that was mentioned. By a natural process of cause and effect, I was called Jawaman. A name thats stuck with me for quite some time.

I was also called Jawa by some kids and those how found that a mouthful to handle, started calling me Jawi.

Then in class VII/VIII (I don't remember), we were introduced to Chemistry. We were told that the chemical symbol for "Lead" was 'pb'. So some kids called me "plumbum jawahar" or "lead jawahar" as a direct substitute for my initials.

Then some enterprising kid came up with the "pub" to replace the plumbum/lead. And with the old Jawi and Jawa, I became "pubjawa" or "pubjawi".

But in the end, till I completed school, Jawi was the first choice for most kids, closely followed by Jawa.

Once I entered college, I never really got any nickname worth mentioning. For the first two years at least, it was only Jawar. And then in my 5th semester I bravely got me a mushroom haircut. This kinda screwed up my hairstyle and by the time the 6th semester started, I was back to being called a bhagavathar.

Thankfully, that name didn't last long and was soon dropped off. There were quite a few other such names that probably lasted a couple of days, but nothing concrete.

And after I joined work, it was again back to Jawa or Jawar. I haven't done anything at work that caused anyone to give me a different name or abbreviation or anything of that sort.

Even when I was in LA, the natives (and naturalised citizens) there, used to make it a point to address me as Jawahar, but in various forms as mentioned in my previous posting. For a short while, some of them called me JP. But like many others, that too didn't last a long time.

And one of the Project Directors there, suddenly started referring to me as "J" in a couple of mails. And coincidentally, another friend of mine (Arvind) too used to refer to me as J in mails.

I somehow liked this and for the past 2 years or so, I sign off most of my personal mails as "J".

And after joined this company too, one of my friends in my circle, suddenly started calling me J. And the leads in my project too used to address some mails and most of the chat sessions as J.

So, since none of you has come up with any kind of good nick name for me, I have decided that I will go with "J" as my other name. Except in totally official mails, I will sign off only as J.

Most importantly, you are hereby requested to address me as "J". Unless, of course, you can give me a cooler nickname.

Whats in a name? Part One.

I saw an episode of Seinfeld a couple of days back. It touched a nerve in me.

Basically, George was complaining to Seinfeld about how he doesn't have a cool nickname. And so he sets out to have one for himself.

It got me thinking too. I too don't have a real cool nick name. In fact, my name itself is not that cool. Different: absolutely. Cool: am not too sure. And, I think the way my name has been (mis)pronounced by all and sundry, is probably the closest thing I've had to a nickname.

So, in this post, I will discuss my name per se and in the next one, will talk about my nicknames.

The various ways in which my name has been pronounced:
1. Jawahar
2. Jawagar
3. Jawar - This is easily the most common way people call me.
4. Jaahar - A neighbour of mine used to call me like this when we both were kids
5. Jagagar - Apparently when I was a toddler or just getting out of being one, there was a girl of the same age, who used to call me that. I don't recollect all this, but have heard my mother talk a lot about it. She also mentioned that the kid was usually quite scared of me.
6. Jaawahare - my first boss in L.A used to call me like that
7. Jaawahar - bunch of folks in L.A again
8. Jaawaahaar - my second boss (afftly referred to as paithiyakaari in my circles) in L.A
9. Jawahaar - one of my colleagues in L.A again

Technically, my name is supposed to be pronounced "Jawaahar". And everyone who has nothing to do with TamilNadu calls me like that only.

I am also slowly starting to pronounce my name the same way.

And just in case anyone has a doubt over what the meaning of the name is, Jawaahar is derived from 'Jawaaharaath' - which is an urdu/persian/hindi word that denotes 'precious stones'.

So at least by nomenclature, I am a precious stone.

And based on the name, I've been asked any of the following questions by near total strangers:
1. Are you Muslim? - One guy, who later became a good friend, once went ahead to check with me about the reservation in educational institutes for minorities. Another guy wished me for one of the Muslim festivals!
2. Are you from North India? - 6/10 times, this is a primary question. The other 4 times, it would have come up the instant I replied in the negative to question #1.
3. Are your parents big fans/members of the Congress party? - A variant of this would usually be if my family has a big freedom fighter.
4. Were you born on Nov 14? - This is actually a very rare question, but I've been asked it a couple of times.

So, to set the record straight: I am not a Muslim. I am not a North Indian. My parents are not fans/members of the Congress party. Nor is anyone a big freedom fighter. And I was definitely not born on Nov 14.

I was born on Oct 29. My mom had a C-section to deliver me. And it was nearly 10 days before she was discharged. And a periyappa of mine wanted the name Praveen or Arjun to be kept. But due to the hospital issues and all that, my naming ceremony was held on Nov 14. So, the same periyappa suggested that I be named in memory of India's first Prime Minister. That's all.

Side Note: According to a Sudanese taxi driver I interacted with (in Melbourne), my name is used for girls in his part of the world! Any normal person might have been offended, but not me. After seeing and interacting with a gazillion 'Muthu's and 'Manickam's and the likes, I only stashed the driver's comment as a piece of information in my brain.

Now coming to the nicknames..