Good Name

“What is your good name?” Does anybody ask that way?

Yes, sometimes it happens in India. I remember one of my English teachers telling us that it’s a wrong usage in English.

Today I got reminded of this class room session when I read a sarcastic writing by someone who visited India and got surprised by this ‘good name’ thing.

What does it mean? Does it mean that you have two names – one is good and the other one is bad? Nope.

There is a usage in Hindi ‘ Aap ka shubh naam kya hai?’

(aap ka - your; subh – good; naam - name; kya – what ; hai – is )

In Hindi, there are three forms of ‘You’. “Tu” is used to address younger ones or between close friends of equal age. “Tum” is used to address people of same age or even elders, in some cases (eg. a servant who is elder to us). “Aap” is the most respectful form of You. This is used to address the elderly persons, people we want to/have to address with respect etc. But in many civilized families/royal families, they use this even to address younger ones.

So, when somebody is using ‘Aap’ to address you, it should be understood that they are addressing you with most respect. And then comes the good name part. There is this belief in Hindu tradition that all the names we use are just attributes of God’s name. Any name is God’s name, and hence it’s a good name. So, ‘good name’ usage is just asking your name with respect. And this doesn’t mean that you have a bad name too.

Obviously there are people who might ask:

“If all names are good names, why you want to specify it?”

Pope is considered as a holy person. We all know that. Not just one particular pope, but anybody who takes that post. Then why do we need to address him as His Holiness? After all, he is not holier than the Jesus himself (addressed by most of the Christians as just Jesus). Then why? Is that wrong then? Nope. Coz, that is the tradition.

During last month, I read a study which says any two humans in this world can be connected with the help of less than 10 people in between. For example any of my friends can be connected to the CEO of Hewlett Packard thru me. So, the world is becoming small and humans are coming closer. People travel extensively to many parts of the world. Travelling to the USA was a very big thing during my childhood. But now? My brother-in-law travels to the US 4-5 times a year. My son had been to US and Canada. So, that’s how things are these days.

So, if somebody thinks only their customs and way of living is right, that is wrong. When such a thought comes from somebody who is a believer in God, it turns ugly. We need to understand that there exists a world other than our little town. There are thousands of other languages, millions of recipes, thousands of traditional dress forms, thousands of human names, even in the same family members look different, hundreds of forms of worshiping the God……. This world has diversity, coz God loves fun and he did not want to make this place a boring one with only one kind of people and culture.

So, it is better we have some respect for the other fellow humans in this planet irrespective of their country of origin and culture. It is better we don’t laugh at other people’s customs or traditions. Its better we don’t think people from other countries are just stupid. That will only show the level of one’s ignorance. Coz, its all created by a single God (or Nature or Super Natural Force or Higher form of Energy or whatever, but with a reason).