Mom: "We should decide on a name for the baby"
Dad: No. we should first decide on a framework for the name
Mom: Don't know what it means. but sounds intelligent. Lets do it!
Dad: It should be a Tamil name
Mom: I agree, and it should not be more than three syllables
Dad: ok. It should have 5 or 6 letters, I dont like 7
Mom: Doable!
Dad: It should be poetic in sound and have a profound meaning
Mom: (Sounding a bit confused) ok...
Dad: You know what, the first syllable should be a vallinam, second should be a idaiyinam and third should be a mellinam. won't it be cool?
Mom: Why dont we skip the framework and just choose a name!
Dad wakes up mom at 3:30 in the night - "Priya, how about 'samaani' for a name?"
Mom: "First, That is not a name or even a word; Second, I am not going to accept any name as good if you wake me up in the middle of the night.
Dad: "How about..."
Mom: "No. that name is not good, Things get better only after 9:30"
Dad: "Priya, how about Virali - It is the middle note in ancient tamil music"
Mom: "How would you spell it?"
Dad: "V..i..r..a..l..l..y"
Mom: "Yeah, sounds good, next kid lets name as bacterially and the one after that can be fungally. That will be our contribution to bio technology"
Dad: :(
Mom: "Why dont we ask our parents?"
Dad: We have not solved the mystery of your name yet. I am not going to trust your dad with another name.
Mom: Lets ask.
later...
Dad: did you ask your parents.
Mom: Dad had no preferences.
Dad: That is not surprising. We have to first teach him to choose in the restaurant, then he can choose names...
Mom: Grrr... but my mom had some names. I told her it should be tamil name. she had some in mind. She suggested, thendral and mullai
Dad: What did u tell her?
Mom: We are trying to come up with a name for the daughter; not a second name for her mom and we need a name that sounds slightly less than 80 yrs.
Mom: Did you ask your parents?
Dad: Yes! Dad wanted to name her after a famous person.
Mom: Not a bad thought...
Dad: Yeah he started in Indira Noel and ended in Abdul Kalaam and Barak Obama :) ...and he really insisted.
Mom: What do we do now?
Dad: I've handled it. I told him it has to be a tamil name and numerologically, has to start in "mjha". He said he will look for it :)
Mom: Why are you smiling?
Dad: There is no letter in tamil called mjha. Let him keep looking and we can tell him, it is too late now.
ok. I heard it very clearly. I am sure this happened after I was born though I can't confirm
Dad: Hey, we have to come up with a name before we leave tomorrow.
Mom: No, we don't have to. I took care of it.
Dad: I told u already, "Surprise! she does not have a name" does not really work.
Mom: No, that female from the birth recording office was pestering me and I scriblled out a name.
Dad: ????
Mom: Dhanya Sayaki... remember I got a double dose of morpine last night
Dad: ... All right. first things first. Lets come up with an intelligent reason for why we gave her this name. Sayaki sounds like Saki... do we have a strong reason to name her after alcohol....
