MALAYALI NAMES

Working along with Rajendran these many years (I don’t want to count how many years) have been an eye opener in many ways. When I first came to Kochi after my marriage, I think I believed that this would be short and temporary stay and that we would, after a couple of years move out of here. If someone had told me at that point that I would spend over 20 years here, I would have told them to go get their heads examined. But as we spread roots here, (I did, Rajendran’s were already well entrenched, only I did not know it) I decided that I might as well enjoy life as it comes.

Long ago before the Kumbalanghy Bridge came up, the Lions Club had a weekly medical camp at the Kumbalanghy School and Rajendran being a lion in those far off days, was roped in to attend them. So every Thursday afternoon a group of us would go in a car the long way round via Kannamaly. I say we, because by then I decided that I might as well pitch in.

My job then was to dispense the medicines. Now I had no idea of the names that the average Malayali could dream up. Names like Jeejo, jojo, jibi and joji were far from my usual horizons. And I expected names to have an age limit. For instance, the names above could only be for young kids, not those over, say 30 years of age. I made up a game as I dispensed the medicines. I would imagine a person for each name. I would read out the names in the medicines slips and wait with bated breath as it were, to see whether my association for the name and the person would match. Mostly it didn’t, thanks to the Malayali felicity with names. But my biggest surprise was when I dispensed medicines to Rocky. Those days, the movie Rocky I and Rocky II about the fighter Rocky Balboa had been released. So naturally I associated the name with a Sylvester Stallone type a character. Some one strong and virile. So I called out the name Rocky and waited. Rocky arrived. He was 75 years old and bent over with age. Rocky had severe asthma so he wheezed with every step. He couldn’t be further from my Sly Stallone association.

Even now I play the game sometimes. What do you expect Saed Afridi, Lata Mangeshkar, Vani Jayaram, Tipsy and Wasim Akram to look like?

I kid you not. These are names of Dr Shaila’s patients. If you don’t believe me ask her!!!