Man’s Search for Naming.
It is not every day that you get a chance to choose your own name. Actually, it is almost never up to you. If you are lucky you might end up named after the "hero" of a story (usually mythological.) If not, you might just be a bit-part character of the story, or worse the antagonist. Another option is being stuck to a value, feeling, or emotion that you may or may not relate to - cue my friend "Veer" whose only act of bravery is to accept that his name does not fit!
That is where pen names are great - you can pick anything under the sun (or so you think.) I was faced with the responsibility of picking a name to write this post under, but most of my usual options were unavailable. I had to pick a bakery item! Anything sweet was almost instantly out - I cannot be sweet. If I have ever been called sweet it was inevitably accompanied by a hint of surprise or sarcasm.
I decided to find a salty or spicy bakery item and my helpful best friend and my wife came up with "puff" or "puffed samosa." I guess the reference is to my essentially puffed self-esteem, or that I am stuffed 'full of it.' Fortunately, those names did not ‘fit the flow’ and we moved on. The bland idea of a ‘bagel’ had holes in it, ‘tortilla’ fell flat, and ‘pretzels’ were too twisted to use. Brownie, Mocha, and Gingerbread had too much color and using 'bakarwadi' would be sacrilege.
I have to say, though, pretzel fit the bill perfectly. It is convoluted like my mind can be, it is salty like my attitude can be, and it holds no nutritional value of note. While the temptation to tie the 'knot' with the pretzel was overwhelming, the absence of tea with bun-maska was unmistakable. 'Cha' was too Bengali, 'Irani Chai' too Hyderabadi, 'Chaha' too reminiscent of 'poha,' and plain 'tea' was just feeka (bland.) So, to spice it up 'masala chai' will have to do, although the nostalgia of 'cutting chai' was hard to ignore.
The thought – we drink tea every day, so I will write every day (a writer’s ultimate fantasy). The reality – we will wait to sip!
If you had to choose a bakery item to name yourself what would you pick? Do let me know in the comments.