Editorial»
What’s in a surname?
NOV 11 - Every time the teacher called names from the register, there would be a special inflection in her tone while spelling out my surname. Sometimes she would even call me Ranaji (And I was just a fifth-grader). Then there was another incident when I was in class seven. My English teacher was talking about female smokers and according to her mostly the Rana women smoke since they are bold and brazen, and if I remember correctly, she even asked me if my mother smoked. She does not.
Reading Nepali poems written in defiance of the Rana regime and studying critical pieces on how the rulers exercised unfair standards have been one humbling experience for me. I am in no way less proud of the sacrifices that were made by our martyrs. But assuming from my surname that I would want history to repeat itself or looking at my countenance and judging by a long nose that I must be arrogant is a misconception.
Samrat Upadhyay’s “This World” features a character called Jaya who is a frivolous “Rana boy” and during the progression of the plot our boy Jaya falls in love with a Brahmin girl but he cheats her and the girl’s mother implies that the fault lies with his heritage. According to her, someone needs to remind him that aristocracy has already fallen down. Touché. Now, my point is, why not Jaya Upadhyay or Jaya Shrestha? Could a Brahmin boy never break a girl’s heart?
The recollection of another incident makes me grit my teeth. A friend of mine told me about how she has opened an MSN messenger in which she has added only male acquaintances. She logs in with a false identity. Her online name is Ananya Rana. Under this name, my non-Rana friend chats brashly with boys and has become quite the “Virtual Nymph.” I have lost respect for her since.
Why cage our minds with cultural misconceptions? Why let our small mindedness come in between a deeper bond that can be formed between human beings of any caste, race or colour? Why let a person’s ethnic background come before his/her individuality? A Brahmin does not have to be greedy, a Gurung is not necessarily aggressive and a Rana need not be arrogant, frivolous or brash.Posted on: 2003-11-11 12:06
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