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The epitome of obstinacy is an army mule.
It just happens that my surname, carried proudly by my forefathers and their progeny, is: Gurram, meaning Horse in Telugu.
I particularly resented it and tried to find out from Father and others how and why we acquired this bestial surname. None of them had a convincing answer except to say that 'Horse is a noble animal' which is neither here nor there, since Lion is nobler than the horse and why we couldn't choose Lion as our surname.
So, I deleted the title from my son's name which is just 'Srinivas Shreenath', like so many Kumars from Bihar who preferred to drop their surnames in the wake of the Mandal Revolution.
There was this funny incident a few years ago:
We were then living in an apartment complex in Hyderabad near Banjara Hills, a stone's throw from my son's office. Within a couple of days of our moving there, a lady introduced herself to me as our co-resident and said that her younger brother was my student at IIT KGP (Physics). I asked his name but it didn't ring any bell, something unusual...I never forget the names and faces of my departmental students...the class strength was less than 25 those days. So I merely nodded and smiled what I thought pleasantly but what must have looked foolishly.
A year later, when I was walking out of our ground floor apartment with li'l Ishani in my hands for our short morning outing that she loved, there ran down a youngish gent from the top floor and introduced himself as a Professor of Physics in a reputed IIT (all of them are reputed but this one was more reputed, according to them). And he said that he was my student at IIT KGP 30 years ago and that he was on a visit to Hyderabad for a Conference and was looking his sister up.
I smiled a wan smile of semi-recognition and asked him to name a few of his classmates. And he said:
"Oh, I was in the class of Krishna Kumar (KK) who did his M Sc Project with you and became your colleague at KGP"
I smiled again, and he said, proudly:
"I was the only one at KGP who knew KK's surname"
I smiled again, and this time I said:
"Except me...I forked it out of him before signing his thesis"
Anyway, my son had a torrid time living without a surname...he had to get his passport and the agent asked him repeatedly what his surname was, and wasn't amused...the agent was a Bengali gent and they wore their surnames on their sleeves...Bengal is casteless and unafraid of the Mandal Revolution...the original Mandal was born in Bihar...
As it happened, weirdly, the father of my son's forthcoming bride happened to be from Nellore, the heart of my Father's native district. And he, of course, asked what our surname was and was told it was Gurram. And then he said:
"Why, Gurrams are a well-known family here...what is his grandfather's name?"
"Gurram Radhakrishnaiah"
"Oh, he was the best Head Master in the whole of Nellore District!"
And that was how 'Gurram' cut the Gordian knot and the first hurdle of our alliance was through.
A few weeks later I was at Nellore, visiting the forthcoming bride's place for the engagement ritual. And a very old man came up to me shading his cataract eyes and inspected my face, rather embarrassingly. And then he proclaimed in public:
"Yes, he looks from the Gurram Family alright"
I was amused and made inquiries as to who this Ancient Mariner was. And was told that he is the eldest surviving member on the bride's side and worked as a teacher while Father was in service in our Nellore district.
And later I asked him how he could confirm that I belonged to the famous Gurram family and he replied:
"They all have typically protruding foreheads"
It was then that the mystery got cleared...we all had horse-heads...
And when Ishani was inevitably born, the bride's side was insistent that she carry the legendary surname of Gurram on her. So her passport reads:
"Gurram Ishani"
And if you inspect any of the dozens of photos of her I posted in this blog, you will see that she too has a protruding forehead...like a mare.
And when I was visiting my mom's place at Gudur the other day, she told me that my youngest cousin at Nellore was so fond of his equestrian surname that he got a couple of racing horses carved on the front gate of his palatial house at Nellore.
And Ishani's mom, born and brought up in Nellore, is so proud of her acquired surname that when they visited the Shilparamam here the other day, she bought this picture, got it framed, and it hangs proudly on our Drawing Room wall:
Anyway, today I was Googling for 'mule' and found this on the wiki:
And how MUCH I would have loved to have a Mule as my surname!! It describes me so pithily...
...Mules are highly intelligent. They tend to be curious by nature. A mule generally will not let the rider put it in harm's way.
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The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't"
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
Henry Ward Beecher
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/obstinacy.html#hKsZWmexjzd6vB6Z.99
...Henry Ward Beecher
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The epitome of obstinacy is an army mule.
It just happens that my surname, carried proudly by my forefathers and their progeny, is: Gurram, meaning Horse in Telugu.
I particularly resented it and tried to find out from Father and others how and why we acquired this bestial surname. None of them had a convincing answer except to say that 'Horse is a noble animal' which is neither here nor there, since Lion is nobler than the horse and why we couldn't choose Lion as our surname.
So, I deleted the title from my son's name which is just 'Srinivas Shreenath', like so many Kumars from Bihar who preferred to drop their surnames in the wake of the Mandal Revolution.
There was this funny incident a few years ago:
We were then living in an apartment complex in Hyderabad near Banjara Hills, a stone's throw from my son's office. Within a couple of days of our moving there, a lady introduced herself to me as our co-resident and said that her younger brother was my student at IIT KGP (Physics). I asked his name but it didn't ring any bell, something unusual...I never forget the names and faces of my departmental students...the class strength was less than 25 those days. So I merely nodded and smiled what I thought pleasantly but what must have looked foolishly.
A year later, when I was walking out of our ground floor apartment with li'l Ishani in my hands for our short morning outing that she loved, there ran down a youngish gent from the top floor and introduced himself as a Professor of Physics in a reputed IIT (all of them are reputed but this one was more reputed, according to them). And he said that he was my student at IIT KGP 30 years ago and that he was on a visit to Hyderabad for a Conference and was looking his sister up.
I smiled a wan smile of semi-recognition and asked him to name a few of his classmates. And he said:
"Oh, I was in the class of Krishna Kumar (KK) who did his M Sc Project with you and became your colleague at KGP"
I smiled again, and he said, proudly:
"I was the only one at KGP who knew KK's surname"
I smiled again, and this time I said:
"Except me...I forked it out of him before signing his thesis"
Anyway, my son had a torrid time living without a surname...he had to get his passport and the agent asked him repeatedly what his surname was, and wasn't amused...the agent was a Bengali gent and they wore their surnames on their sleeves...Bengal is casteless and unafraid of the Mandal Revolution...the original Mandal was born in Bihar...
As it happened, weirdly, the father of my son's forthcoming bride happened to be from Nellore, the heart of my Father's native district. And he, of course, asked what our surname was and was told it was Gurram. And then he said:
"Why, Gurrams are a well-known family here...what is his grandfather's name?"
"Gurram Radhakrishnaiah"
"Oh, he was the best Head Master in the whole of Nellore District!"
And that was how 'Gurram' cut the Gordian knot and the first hurdle of our alliance was through.
A few weeks later I was at Nellore, visiting the forthcoming bride's place for the engagement ritual. And a very old man came up to me shading his cataract eyes and inspected my face, rather embarrassingly. And then he proclaimed in public:
"Yes, he looks from the Gurram Family alright"
I was amused and made inquiries as to who this Ancient Mariner was. And was told that he is the eldest surviving member on the bride's side and worked as a teacher while Father was in service in our Nellore district.
And later I asked him how he could confirm that I belonged to the famous Gurram family and he replied:
"They all have typically protruding foreheads"
It was then that the mystery got cleared...we all had horse-heads...
And when Ishani was inevitably born, the bride's side was insistent that she carry the legendary surname of Gurram on her. So her passport reads:
"Gurram Ishani"
And if you inspect any of the dozens of photos of her I posted in this blog, you will see that she too has a protruding forehead...like a mare.
And when I was visiting my mom's place at Gudur the other day, she told me that my youngest cousin at Nellore was so fond of his equestrian surname that he got a couple of racing horses carved on the front gate of his palatial house at Nellore.
And Ishani's mom, born and brought up in Nellore, is so proud of her acquired surname that when they visited the Shilparamam here the other day, she bought this picture, got it framed, and it hangs proudly on our Drawing Room wall:
Anyway, today I was Googling for 'mule' and found this on the wiki:
And how MUCH I would have loved to have a Mule as my surname!! It describes me so pithily...
...Mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse...unlike hinny which is the offspring (rare) of a male horse and a female donkey...
A mule does not sound exactly like a donkey or a horse. Instead, a
mule makes a sound that is similar to a donkey's but also has the
whinnying characteristics of a horse (often starts with a whinny, ends
in a hee-haw). Sometimes, mules whimper...
...The mule possesses the even temper, patience, endurance and
sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigor, strength and courage of
the horse. Operators of working animals
generally find mules preferable to horses: mules show more patience
under the pressure of heavy weights, and their skin is harder and less
sensitive than that of horses, rendering them more capable of resisting
sun and rain. Their hooves are harder than horses', and they show a
natural resistance to disease and insects. Many North American farmers
with clay soil found mules superior as plow animals.
Mules are generally less tolerant towards dogs (much like donkeys) than horses are.They are also capable of striking out with any of their hooves in any direction, even sideways if needed...
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I am often asked why I have a condiment for a surname!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to have a Parsi surname! Daruwala or Batliwala or Bandookwala would have been my pick (no offence)!