Does a picture alone speak a thousand words ?

Does a name resemble an expected character ? 

Surya, the sun ? 

Shanti, will the person really radiate peace ? 

Is there a count of the number of Diyas' or Shreyas' or Adityas' that exist? 

D'Souza - did my ancestors really want me to be a diamond merchant? 

What does 'noble' translate to in Celtic ? 

Questions, A curious mind has an ever flowing supply of them. 

Mesmerised by the talents of the young pop artist Bryan Adams, it sparked an altercation between my radio heard mother and my concert rocked father who wanted his son named after the artist who lived (the) 'Summer of 69'. My fortunate father won the First Battle of Names and hence a baby boy was named Bryan D'Souza.       Worry not because my flaming mother squashed her rock addictive husband to win over the rights to name my sister.

But one problem arose - pronunciation of the word Bryan. 

That was not my first naming ceremony. Throughout my life, I've been named in each class I studied in, each sport i have ever played and by each person I've met. Even by my own family. 

The pronunciation complexity of my name rose to such transcendence that my grandparents had to adopt a name which my cousin coined - 'Sonu'. 

'Sonu' turned out to be a different identity, an identity with a child like behaviour. 

Similarly 'biryani' and 'brain' was introduced by my high school hooligans. Which gave birth to yet another identity - carefree and playful. 

Species in this universe evolve with time, so did my name. As I grew older, my name changed as well. Few of my friends in college chose to stick to my surname, a few coined the term - 'Booda' ( translates to bald in kannada ) inspired by my haircut during my NCC tenure. 'Johnny' thanks of my talents in singing and 'Brandy' by an alter ego as I explored different arenas of adolescence. 

As I have experienced and understood the challenges in pronouncing a name is profound, but..each name associates with a different character, a different emotion. 

Names represent the people I have met and the experiences shared with them. Every time I am called 'biryani' or 'brain', my body produces a good amount of serotonin. 

When I'm called by the name Sonu, my brain goes down the nostalgic road to the summers I spent with my grandparents and cousins around the farm. Which brings out the child like character irrespective of how old actually I am. 

'Booda' takes me back to the days of undistracted discipline in the NCC and the constant taunt by my close ones for an almost bald head. When a person calls out 'Brandy' it just takes off the harsh personality that is associated with NCC and makes me a compassionate person. 

But above all, when the people who call me by different names cry out 'BRYAN NELSON D'SOUZA', This is when I realise I'm up the creek without a paddle and the boat's leaking.

There have been moments when I've asked my mother to change my name because of certain insults. on the flipside, a name is like an odor which have direct connections to emotion and memory. 

A name showcases history, experience and most importantly the kind of people you've been with. 

So look back, look back to the days when your name took various forms because a picture might speak a thousand words, but a name speaks A THOUSAND WORLDS.