Titles, Nicknames and Suffixes

This post comes after a long hiatus and it has been triggered by the comments of appreciation i continue to receive from my Alig brothers. So, here goes the caravan of memories, alive, once again.

This post is dedicated to all those aligarians who took immense pleasure and interest in naming people. Not because the people given new names or titles has unusual names which were tough to spell or pronounce. It was merely for the love and fun of it.

The logic behind this ‘Nomenclature Theory’ was based on the following three parameters 🙂

• The person’s appearance
• His/Her habits and mannerisms
• His/her dislikes and objects of disgust

At times, these names were given to identify different people with a single name, for example, there were many people who had the name “Salman” and three differnet people with this name were named as Salman Topi, Salman Ghoda and Salman Maulana. Some people didn’t mind these titles and took them in lighter vein while a few went berserk if anybody even used “that” word in their presence.

To name a few titles which are impossible to forget, I would like to mention the likes of Papa Miyan, Aalia Dada, Nafees Bakra, Kamaal Anda and Mulla churri. No one was spared from this activity. These names and titles were given to everyone including Vice-chancellors, Proctors, Provosts, Wardens, Professors, Readers and Lectureres. Friends, Seniors and classmates were the easiest targets.

Some other titles and suffixes which are on top of my list are: Katta, Mouzer, Comrade, Choori, Lamba, Naata, Ganja, Bura, Goraa, XYZ ka driver, Pilot, Bakra, Ghoda, Totaa, Chhila aalu, Qawwaal, Nautanki, Anaconda, Godzilla, Hitler… This list can be a long one if I press too hard on my memory.

I would also like to share an anecdote here which i heard from some of my seniors. Once a famous professor went to a grocery shop. While he was buying a few things, a girl stepped into the shop and asked, “Andey hain?” The shopkeeper replied, “Nahee!” To this, the girl responded, “Kamaal Hai, Andey nahee?” 🙂 I am sure some of you could get the point she wanted to make.

Hope you can recall the Anda, Bakra or Aaloo of your time 🙂

~ Qais