Upon arrival for dinner at their residence, I found my friend Shridhar and his wife were havingone of their heated discussions.

We plan to name our child’Mumbai”she said”As U know even Jonty Rhodes named his baby daughter India and she has become instantly famous”.

“Congrats” I said

Shridhar intervened “Well that’s because he is Jonty Rhodes and he is famous”

The wife was insistent “We all love it when a foreigner,white skinned and famous would name their child after our great country India. That makes us proud and convinced that India is a Great country.”

Shridhar was disturbed “I am neither a foreigner nor White skinned. Also why should you feel proud if a foreigner would call their daughter India?? I would prefer his name be Sivaramakrishnan Sankareshwaran Murlidharan Aiyar, after my father”

The wife was not ready to give up “That’s old tradition. In these days people name their children after countries, events or great personalities. That gives them a head start in life”

Shridhar insisted “Well, this case attracted media attention because it was Jonty Rhodes child. Even if he had called his child ‘Bangladesh‘, the media would have still made a hue and cry. Besides the Bangladesh Government would have granted Noble prize.”

The wife was sounding annoyed”I don’t know why U keep giving so much of importance to Jonty Rhodes. He is retired, 46 and a coach. No one cares anymore. He named his daughter India to draw some limelight.It’sthe name ‘India’that is drawing all the publicity and nothing else”

Shridhar defended “A lot of people, mostly Gujarati’s have named their sons ‘Bharat’ out of sheer love for India. Not a soul paid any attention. The only Bharat to become famous was film producer Bharat Shah and that wasnot for his movies but for his links with the underworld.”

The wife was relentless “I would like to insist that we should name our son ‘Mumbai’That way he will grab a lot of media attention from now on and most likely he will have an assured government job specially if the BJP stays in power oreven if the Shiv Sena comes to power. Also if ever the congress comes to power they will get him a job in a large private corporation owned by a minister, all because of his unique name.

Shridhar wasalarmed “Oh!! You are going too far now. That may not work at all. Besides only those who do not get jobs in large private corporations, apply for government jobs.

The Wife continued “Also for your information, David Beckham named his son Brooklyn, Tom cruise named his daughter Suri, Alicia Beats named her daughter Egypt and all those kids are doing well”

Shridhar “Why don’t u refer to those parents who had named their child Greece, Iceland, Panama or even worse Syria.? In India it would be very difficult to get married with a name like that.Political and socio-economic conditions change frequently and I am not sure if it’s a good idea to call him ‘Mumbai, especially if you consider the current traffic conditions, property market and business conditions.

Shridhar continued “Also for your information places like Bermuda, Philippineswere named after famous people and of course our own ‘Bharat’ after the son of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Darling don’t you think it would be a lot better if someone would name a city, state or nation after our son rather than the other way around??

The Wife sounded convinced and suddenly shifted her stance “of course. What if Jonty Rhode’s son India hoards drugs, or shoots his neighbors? It might appear in the media as “India, haven for drugs” or ‘India shoots neighbors”. I do not think we should be proud of this. In fact, we should ban anyone naming their children after our Country instead of feeling proud.

It was time to leave. It was an interesting dinner.