What's in a Name?

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This is Juliet's line when she is telling Romeo that a name is nothing but a name and it is hence a convention with no meaning behind it in William Shakespeare's famous love story.

What's in a name?? Many times have come across the question. For all these years have never seriously thought about this. But today in a meeting a senior coleague kept on confusing my name with some other person and after a point of time I felt really turned off. At that point, I realized how important a name is for my identity. My efficiency, and my work gets identity only by my name. Name is the first blessing of all near and dear ones. Name associates our external existence with our internal self. Everyone is born unique and the name gives recognition to that uniqueness. Name is the first way to connect to a person. I personally like to address everyone by their first name as it represents the individual. It gives a personal touch to every communication and the first barrier to effective conversation gets removed.Customising any gift with someone's name makes it instantly special.It is because most of us love our name and personal belongings identified with same. The name of a book, place, river, tree, everything is so important. We spend ages learning and identifying and memorizing these during our lifetime. Name helps to organize and conduct in a systematic manner our day-to-day affairs. Being a Krishna bhakta have always felt that whether it's Krishna, Mohan, or Kanha, the essence remains the same. All Gods are same irrespective of the name. The name becomes immaterial and it's the essence, thought process, and values that matter in life. Individual character and integrity are important. Skills are important. For instance, Latajis's voice became immortal. Even after two decades, when someone will listen to her songs they will appreciate it even though they may not know her name."Naam gum jayega chehra yeh badal jayega.. meri awaaz hi pehchaan hain". On a deeper level name is just a representative of our ego. I, me, mine. But alas we are human beings on a journey on this earth and till the time we identify ourselves as one with the Almighty, our work overpowers our existence, name is indeed important for our survival and growth here.