Numerology, Indian style
Sunday, August 26, 2007
A long while ago, while flying from Bangalore to New Delhi, unlike most real life situations, a cute girl came and sat next to me. Looked a little like Mahima Chaudhary.
Like any other guy, I pretty soon found a reason to engage her in a conversation. And unlike many other girls who had been next to me before, she did not pretend to sleep through the flight.
Turned out she worked for a travel agency, and since I was looking for cheap tickets to India (was part of a startup that outsourced work to India), I asked her for her company website, so I could see if pricing for tickets to India were cheaper if purchased over there.
LovelyTravells.com, it said.
"What happened? Was LovelyTravels.com taken?", I asked, noticing two Ls in the 'travells' in the address.
"No, not really - it was advised by the numerologists that we do it". Looking at the incredulous expression on my face, she continued, "This is from Bansilal Jumaani, the same numerologist who helped Ekta Kapoor".
Now that is a name I knew. Ekta Kapoor. She is daughter of an old Indian Bollywood movie star, and she has become the most prolific TV show producer in the country. It all started with her first show, "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" (Because the mother-in-law was a daughter-in-law at one point in time). That show was such a big hit, that it was followed by 35 other similar shows, each one of them highly popular. And all 35 started with the letter K. And all 35 were run past the numerologist our travel agent had also consulted.
Today in India, it is all too common to see a yy cramped in a place where just a y would do. 'Kahani Teri Meri' (Your and my story) becomes 'Kahani Terrii Merrii'.
And the obsession does not stop right there. Major television channels have made 'numerological sanitization' of their production names part of the process, as per an interview with the numerologists. They have recommended that movie actresses like Karishma change their names to solve domestic problems and even that India rename Kashmir to Kashmier, to settle the dispute with Pakistan.
And if one thought this obsession with numbers stopped at the borders, think again.
I was at a picnic this Sunday where Indian immigrants from the neighborhood got together and decided to introduce themselves to each other. There were name tags available for people to wear, and I went to get one too. The person handing those out looked at my name tag and said, "double-e, is that due to numerology?".
It had never crossed my mind that the other way to spell my name, Piyush, would be consider the norm, and mine would be an adaptation. Oh well. Good thing is that even with this name, I consider myself pretty lucky so far in life. Knock on wood.
So, if you thought Indian names were a breeze for you to spell, dust up that old phrase, "how do you spell that", and be ready to use it now.
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