I have not read William Shakesphere. But I know that it is he who
said “What's in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name
would smell as sweet.”
I keep getting these marketing calls like all of you do. Normally, the
callers are well trained, confident and informative of the service they are
trying to sell. One thing they are not trained is in the pronouncing of the
names. Understandable, names differ. Does it become so difficult if you have a
name like ‘Prashanth M Ignatius’. Looks like.
Even pouncing, sorry pronouncing a name like ‘Prashanth’ becomes a task
for few callers. ‘Prasanth’ is a common mistake, but ‘Per-santh’ is an
irritating mistake. A few pronounce it as ‘Pirasant’ and worse was ‘Parishan’.
If you think I am exaggerating, no. I am for economy of words while writing
these articles.
As I said, they are confident. The confidence in the tone in the initial
‘Good Morning’, ‘Good Evening’ is very evident. It is intact till “Am I
speaking to’ part too. Then creeps a slight hesitation when it is passing through the ‘Prashanth EM’
part. The mumbling, stumbling, grumbling, falling part is when ‘Ignatius’
starts.
“Am I speaking Prashanth Yum, I……G..No…..Tesuius”, here the fort of
confidence has its initial cracks. Then it is shattered. I don’t make an effort
to correct. Not that I enjoy their struggle, but an effort was required by them
before calling.
Then there are 4 or 5 versions of it. Ignaaatsious, Hignation, Ignitisation,
Hignateaous, etc. Then I correct them and then say I am not interested. ‘What’s
in the name’? like William (Shakeshere I mean) said.But there is. ‘Ignatius’
associated with me is a big name. It is not my sir name.
Ignatius was saint from Loyola who is popularly known as Ignatius of
Loyola. It is a practice with us that we keep a Saint’s name along with our
name in honour of a Saint. We just hold on to the name and forget all the
Saintly habits. They say Ignatius means ‘fiery one’.
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish religious leader who lived from 1491 to
1556. He founded the famed Christian religious order, Society of Jesus or
Jesuits as it is popularly known. Renowned for their service in the field of
Education and Awareness, Jesuits are spread all over the world.
The popular St Joseph’s Schools and colleges of Bangalore belong to this
order. The life of St.
Ignatius is an interesting & enriching one. His
initial life was laced with his love for military exercises and his longing for
fame. How he got in to a religious life and went on to become one of the most
celebrated Saint is a great read. You can read his life here – Ignatius of Loyola
Today happens to be his feast. Normally, a Saint’s feast is celebrated
on the day he died.
Happy feast to all the Ignatius’ I know.
