Thursday, January 18, 2007

Stillskin... Rumpelstillskin

Come now. Everyone needs a surname.

Or do we?

I've a strange one, to most ears that don't belong to the village our clan's named after. "Tonse".
Rae Tonse.

I've been called Thomas, Tonsils, Tonez, Tonnes and what not by waterhogs and teacher waterhogs in school. How difficult is it to say Tone-say?
Atleast it means nothing.. as in, the godly portal of all knowledge by and for man, and any animal that would remotely be interested in synonyms, phonetics and definitions and the capability to handle the internet says it means nothing.
Atleast I'm not Timothy Allen Dick.

But again, must we carry our names over and over generations, pass them onto our children? Is it an absolute necessity? A friend told me its so his father's name is not lost.
I don't think his child would ever refer to his grandfather by name.
And how much can I glorify the past of my predecessors, endorse their existance, keep alive the memoirs of their lives by carrying around the name of the village they decided to inhabit?

Heck I didn't know what my father's name was till I was four.
I thought his name was Daddy.
I also wondered how my grandparents could be that uncreative.
All my friends' fathers' name were also Daddy, or variations of the same!

Tonse.

Rae Tonse.

Ah well. It's better than Rae Daddy.

6 comments:

Monolith... said...

In your case it would be more like Rae Mummy!

vichchoobhai said...

Be proud of your name Rae, why berate it? The mighty founder of Manipal Academy of Education, and Syndicate Bank was a Tonse. A General Manager of Western Railway was a Tonse. And just think what would happen if Girish Karnad were to be called Girish Daddy, Nandan Nilekani as Nandan Daddy and Shyam Bengal as Shyam Daddy, they will become faceless nonentities. They all bear the names of their villages not far from your Tonse. A wonderful idyllic seaside town.
If u dont want your friends to mispronounce it re-spell it as TONESAY. More phonetic!

Hesaru change maadbeda tangi, gandana hesaru konege haaku as an add on and not instead!

the stygian sailor said...

whats in a name? its better than having a name like TESS TICKLE..which when said aloud is heard as TESTICLE or Moe Lester.. Molester

Rae said...

you've made my day.

Karish said...

It really cannot get worse than Dosai. TRUST me!

V said...

funnily i knew my dad's and mom's names when i was little.. i wasnt sure of my sister's though .. LOL!!

i thought all girls were called Akka (=elder sister) :))


Good post again Rae :)

Regards
Vinoth