"What is the name of the guy, who sit next to you in class," Papa asked me curiously, almost two decades ago (yeah, 2 decades; I have roughly covered close to 50% of standard allocated life, unless some speeding vehicle make a wish and increase this % more than the actual one).
"She is a girl - Mini," I answered without bothering why did he ask me.
"What's her full name," he added the 2nd one with equal curiosity.
"I don't know," I replied ingenuously (even today I don't remember her last name; only thing I can remember now: she was real cutie).
Papa did not ask me same question, when I moved to High School; not because he forgot to ask, but actually, he was my class teacher and saw me with whom I shared the space.
Yeah, he knew everything I did when there were no teachers in class (this I always wonder, how there is at least one fellow in every class who follows Saas-Bahu).
So only day I used to be khulla-Saand when he was on leave (unfortunately once or twice a year).
When I became a hostel-ite (place, where I missed my home the most -Unfortunately there was no Purani Jeans/Yaaron Dosti or DCH at that time), Papa asked me slightly different question but with same curious intention.
I told him the complete name of my roomies. I mean, the one with last name; but I didn’t feel any reason to think - whether it make sense to ask the complete name?
During those days, Papa's intension never made me think about the whole idea of last name.
Few years down the line, when I was in secondary, somebody asked me the same question and I counted every one with their last name. There were five Amit so only last name remained unique identifier. Then, after two years, I actually started to realize the meaning of last name. Somehow, it related as to which category you belong to when you gonna write the cut-throat Exams or anything for that matter.
Total - SC\ST- OBC - Admin - HR - Ministry - NRI - Freedom Fighters - East - West - North - South – Central = General
As long as this LHS = RHS stayed in mind, last name did not bother me.
When I moved to College, Papa again asked me same question; thank GOD! Roomie’s last name was different and it did not suggest as it generally meant to be; by that time, I had developed kind of irritation if someone specifically asked me the last name.
There was not always reason though, but just like that. While I don't want to sound cynic on this, but what I could never digest there after was the intention behind question not the last name.
Then stepped into the corporate world, where the definition of last name became further intricate. Today, apart from the usual conversation, I feel suffocated by the idea of last name as to why most of the time it is used to define a person, their religion and what not.
And now, having answered the same question for years, I wonder, what would be my reply if someone ever asks me the last name of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, Saraswati or Vishnu...????
Such thoughts always put loads of burden on the tiny particle of the brain and as Escapism works wonder in most of the cases, I plan to stick to it until someone ask me my last name.
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