Risha Jaiswal, a student from UP formally changed his name as Kabir Jaiswal. But the Central Board of Secondary Education there did not recognise this change of name with the result that his school certificate was reportedly annulled. The matter was put up before the Allahabad High Court which eventually restored the certificate to the student and observed that a change of name was part of the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
In fact, it is a birth right of every person in the world to change or not to change his or her name. This is because a person is named without his or her consent.
In accordance with Hindu tradition a child is named on the twelfth day of its birth by performing a ceremony called ‘Barso’. Generally these names comprise of the names of Gods and Goddesses, of saints and sages, of great historical personalities, of relatives that have passed away, of things of nature or simply imaginative. Some names are just incidental. I would like to cite one instance of such incidental names. In 1975 the then PM of India Mrs Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in our country. Thereafter using the tyrannical MISA Act, put all the leaders of the opposition parties behind bars. At that time a baby girl was born in young Laloo Prasad Yadav’s house at Bihar then, Lalooji, proudly named his new born daughter as “Misa Bharati”!
Sometimes a nickname proves more appealing than the real name. Babu is one such popular nickname. And most Babus I met until now are decent and capable persons. A few Babus have been elected to the Goa Assembly hitherto. After the opinion poll one babu was being elected regularly from Margao Constituency. He was generous and was regarded as the ‘kingmaker’ after the 1980 election. Another Babu was elected from Mapusa in 1984. Today we have two Babus in our State Legislative Assembly. One represents Pernem Constituency and another represents Quepem Constituency. In northern India Government officials are called Babus. And a slow, dull administration is called ‘Baburaj’.
Thoughts keep on changing. Therefore names keep on changing. That is why the names of some States, cities and important places in our country have been changed in the recent past. Thus former Madras state was renamed as Tamil Nadu and its capital was renamed as Chennai. Mysore state was renamed as Karnataka. Bombay was changed to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata, Bangalore to Bengaluru and Belgaum to Belgavi. Earlier, Panjim was changed to Panaji and Vasco was thought of changing to Sambhaji. Victoria Terminus was changed to Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Mogalsaria junction to Pandit Deen Dayal Junction. Further, the name of Allahabad city was changed to Prayagraj and the name of the city Aurangabad is likely to be changed soon.
To the south of our country is an island nation. It’s former name was Ceylon. Now it is changed to Sri Lanka. The name of Burma, a country to the east of India is now changed to Myanmar. Former East Pakistan is now a full fledged nation named Bangladesh. Last month in Ahmedabad Motera stadium after its enhancement is renamed as “Narendra Modi stadium.” The above stadium is the biggest cricket stadium in the world.
