GOGOL !

I’m not sure what was going through my parents minds or even if it was my parents that gave me the nickname Gogol but I always wondered who came up with that name and if they did then how, or rather why. I’ve been told that Gogol was a Russian scientist and the reason for naming me after him was that it would make me an academic too. Well, that failed miserably! Too bad the Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello didn’t originate till I was about 10 years old. At least I would have been close to my name’s legacy, if not fulfilling it. Often I wonder if they really named me after Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, because honestly, I love what I have read about that guy. I might not be like him, but from what I have read, it would be an honour to be like him.

Another thing about the name is that they nicknamed me Gogol while my official name is Prasid. I mean, come on, are we trying to make some kind of diverse person here. It’s one thing being born of parents from different cultures, but it’s completely different when you have one name that originates in Sanskrit (Praseed is the actual pronunciation of my name. Prasid is just the easier and more used version.) and another that is Russian. What were they trying to make? Some kind of dictator cum academic cum literary marvel or something? They pretty much failed in their attempts then I guess.

Sometimes, in those moments where you think of how things will be in the future and other such matters, I think to myself, what would it be like being say 35 years old and being called Gogol ? I mean, it would be like ‘Aye Gogol-da ki hochche’ or ‘Mr. Gogol, nice to meet you’ or the most hilarious, what would it be like being called Gogol in bed. Think about it yourself, in bed with a woman and she goes like ‘Oh Gogol, do that thing you always do’! That’s freaking hilarious. Somewhere some person will be telling his friend, ‘you know, I know this guy named Gogol, he’s a friend of mine and he’s got this new car which he drives around in all the time…’. It’s just funny, how the simple name makes even the most casual conversations sound funny.

With all that though, the name’s kinda cool. I mean, it makes me a living smile generator in a way. That’s always a good place to be. I see a person crying and in tears, all I have to do is go up to them and say, ‘Hi, my name is Gogol’ and voila they’re laughing or at least they stop crying for sometime to realise if I’m really serious. This recent movie, I forget the name has somewhat ruined the comedy that my name carried with itself but hell, it makes it cooler. Now I have a name that’s been used in movies and that’s not just Tom, Dick and Harry or any other regular name. It’s a name you don’t hear very often, it’s Gogol !

Even when people try making fun of it, ‘Oh hey, hi! So your name is Gogol. Do you like Go gol all the time or something?’. They just end of making a fool out of themselves. It’s not really easy to make fun of a name which is in itself funny and in my opinion, it takes a pretty lucky person to have a name which makes the world smile. In any case, it’s better than Hardik being called Hard-dick !

As of late, I’ve been called Prasid much more than Gogol. Actually, Gogol’s only used at home now. But I realise now that it was much more fun when people used to call me Gogol and they used to smile everytime they did it.