My Obra Days - Sweet Childhood

VII. TEKNONYMY

We have been brought up in a traditional Hindu society; the society, which considered calling a husband by his name, a taboo. But, the generations are changed now and so are the customs.

My mother never called my father by his name. The logic she threw was, this would reduce the father's age and the same logic we got from all our surroundings. You know, typical Teknonymy. And yes, this caused many funny moments in our lives too.

The famous TV serial MAHABHARAT by B.R.CHOPRA made crazy the whole country those days. At the beginning of the serial was a narration by so-called Samay, The Time, followed by the fantastic serial.

Our Uptron, B&W, TV was installed in verandah on Sundays so that as many as possible persons could be occupied for that one hour. The TV would be placed on a table; only three to four chairs were arranged for senior-most personalities and the remaining gentry was allowed to sit on the carpet on the floor.

Tripathi Aunty, five feet four inches height, milky white in color, and a bit bulky was an epitome of typical Indian housewife. She felt each and every dialogue of the serial and tried to grasp the sermons as much as she could... and never missed even the title sequence. The point is that the name of the uncle was Omkar Tripathi.

On a Sunday,

"How many minutes are to go?" She asked sitting in the chair.

"Five minutes remain aunty." My elder brother replied.

"They seem like hours while waiting for Mahabharat." Impatient Sandeep replied.

"Hmmm. But this will pass in our chatter." Aunty said.

"I have a time pass question." Bhaiya said.

The eyes of everyone there were now asking him for the question.

"We have watched the twenty episodes of the serial but how many in the audience can recite the starting narration?"

"Main Samay hoon. Main Omkar hoon......I am the time. I am the OMKAR......." was the starting narration of the serial.

Many hands were up, all at once. But the hand which fascinated him the most was that of Tripathi aunty.

"You too, aunty?" he smiled.

"Yes, so what if I am not literate. I am pretty well in memorizing, especially the religious lessons."

"But I doubt."

"Doubt, what for?"

"You can't even recite the starting two lines of the narration."

"Ramesh beta, don't underestimate me."

"The obvious needs no evidence aunty." He teased.

"Ok then, listen everyone."

Aunty was a bit serious now but my brother was still smiling at her.

After a deep breath, she started, "Main Samay hoon. Main........" and she stopped as she realized that the following word was nothing but her husband's name, a typical dilemma.

Everyone was now smiling, waiting for the outcome.

'How can I utter his name? It is against the customs. But I have to complete the narration' she thought.

She then glared at the player, "Ramesh, you scamp, you pushed me in the dilemma knowingly. I will beat you."

"I am ready for that aunty, but first you complete the narration." He laughed.

But the smart aunty completed her sentence in her own way, "Main Samay hoon. Main Chunnu ka papa hoon....and so on. I am the time. I am the Chunnu's father.........."