Yes, My Name is Kovid!

Many decades ago, when my scholarly grandfather bestowed upon me the name Kovid, I was told that it was all about our culture and straight from the Hanuman Chalisa. It’s a different story that even to the most avid Hanuman bhakta, I had to explain the origin of my name. As I stumbled into school, my first step was indeed in the reverse gear as the bag was too heavy, I did get multiple versions of my name- Kovit, Kaawid and Govind. I soon realized that Shakespeare did make sense- What is in a name? And being a gentleman in making, I stopped correcting them, and if I heard someone yelling something sounding remotely like Kovid, I knew it was me that they were looking for. Stumbling gave way to trudging, and as I trudged into the college next door, I realized that Homo Sapiens are indeed very innovative, as newer versions of my name were born. Alas! Education has no co-relation to a person’s ability of pronouncing and understanding a name. Going digital did not help either, as the computer or device has always told me that my name is Kevin. Work made me take the Chennai Express, and for the next few years I was the temple personified- Kovil! Well, moving to Bengaluru and Delhi , I happily carried on with my beautiful life in priceless obscurity. And then COVID -19 happened. The newspapers, the news channels, social media and all the important people have only one topic to talk about- COVID. My phonetic name is infamous. Now, the mere mention of my name elicits a response with a giggle - oh your name is Covid! Wondering if I will be denied an E-pass, and if yes, then I guess, I would, similar to my favorite actor, end up saying “My Name is Kovid and I am not a virus”!