and hence starts the funny things about names....
i introduced myself as kaushik to the guy at the immigration counter and he asked COW SHIT??? what kind of name is that? and the guy next to him said probably thats the name in INDIA coz cows are considered sacred there...
made me wonder then what about longbottom or sidebottom... are they sacred in their respective countries?
guys i am not making this up... but just try putting this on Google "Newzeland names" and the first site that comes is http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/category-new-zealand-names.html- and the name that tops the list is AATA... meaning what is aata in that world at all... didnt know they ate chapathis... leave alone the fact that they are considered sacred there. and the next name is ABBEY. as in abbey saaley!!!
the recent stir about newzeland reporter caused a huge uproar all around the world. but the surprise was even bigger when i went to the wikipedia to browse about the country... and i quote "It is unknown whether the Māori had a name for New Zealand as a whole before the arrival of Europeans, although they referred to the North Island as Te Ika a Māui (the fish of Māui) and the South Island as Te Wai Pounamu (the waters of greenstone) or Te Waka o Aoraki (the canoe of Aoraki)" and they went on to say PLEASE NOTE THIS CAREFULLY- "Although the North and South Islands have been known by these names for many years, the New Zealand Geographic Board has stated that as of 2009, they have no official names."
so a country which doesn't have an official name for itself had a reporter talking about funny names around the world...
and so the more i think about it the only conclusion i can come to is this. no matter what they name the islands, the country will be a lovely place to live in, just like others in INDIA who have charming personalities beyond their names.
nada
