The Namesake(s) Posted on April 9, 2010April 9, 2010 Being in a room with around 15 women, all called “Anita”, turned out to be quite a novel experience. Like we all joked, it was one occasion when we didn’t have to remember any names! This happened in February 2010 during a trip to Delhi and Gurgaon. A rather diverse bunch, brought together by Delhi based photographer Anita Khemka who is working on a project called “Being Anita“. I have never actually thought much about my name. I have, on a handful of occasions, wondered about how it would be like to have an exotic name instead of the plain vanilla “Anita”. But over the years, I’ve gotten used to it. Now, I quite like my name – I’ve made peace with it. And if you’ve noticed, the the trend of naming girl babies as Anita has declined rapidly over the years. Which means, the name will be quite a rarity soon. The advantage is that it’s hard to shorten the name so I don’t have too many nicknames. At the very worst, it could be called “Ann” or “Annie” – neither of which I like and thankfully no one calls me by those names. I have a few people who call me by my surname, which I don’t like either. I actually just prefer my name – it’s simple, easy to pronounce and just…”plain”. The other advantage is that when you’re travelling, you don’t have to make much of an effort to pronounce your name and spell it out so people can comprehend it. It’s a name that seems to exist in many cultures and across geographies. I have a friend who uses my name to book tables at restaurants since her name is too exotic. So I’ve probably been at many dinners without actually being there in person. So coming back to my tryst with the “Anitas” – it was well worth the effort of making it to the Maximum Store, our venue for the rendezvous – on a rather pleasant evening. What I realised after the conversations with these diverse women was the passion that they had about whatever it is that they’re into. I met Anita Bhargava, who’s a passionate runner and is now equally passionate about cleaning Delhi in a day, the very articulate Anita Thapar Kathpalia of Fab India. Then there was Anita Vasudevan who wears many hats, including that of an entrepreneur and a writer. There was Anita Roy – British Indian – she had given up using a car many years ago and now gets around on her trusted steed – her bicycle! An artist of repute, Anita Trehan, Anita Lobo, an aspiring sports entrepreneur and Anita Nigam, an astrologer amongst many others! Such interesting women – it’s no wonder that the evening flew by pretty quickly. Anita Khemka (who is documenting all the Anitas through photographs) shared some of her images in a slideshow and then we continued with a round of introductions over chai and snacks. An evening well spent with my namesakes! Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Living Personal Projects
Priceless conversations Posted on September 23, 2004 Yesterday… A few priceless ones, all in the space of a day made it really memorableβ¦ And made me thankful for the sweetest friends I have. Venkat hunted me down through Ryze (or was it the other way round?!) and discovered we work in the same office. He lent me… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
Why IΓ’β¬β’m miffed with Kareena Kapoor! Posted on May 27, 2008May 27, 2008 So, I was just packing up to leave yoga class, when my instructor brandishes a sheet of paper in front of me. Γ’β¬ΕWhat is this?Γ’β¬Β I ask. He just pushes it into my hand without answering. On the top, it reads, Kareena Kapoor’s diet. I read it twice and then… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
Sun behind the Clouds Posted on February 24, 2010 I have a special place for Tibet in my heart – especially since one of my dearest friends is a Tibetan. And I think that it’s quite a struggle for Tibetans today trying to find their identity wherever they are in the world. It’s not easy when your homeland is… Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Print (Opens in new window) Print Read More
Anita Khemka is one of my favourite Indian photographers. I’d trust her to come up with a simple yet brilliant idea like this! Reply
Hi Anita, I have been a lurker on your blog for a long time now. This one prompted me to comment though. Like Mahesh above said, this is a really simple but great idea. Would love to meet my namesakes some day. Not too many I reckon here in North America. Oh wait, I might be wrong about that π Kudos for maintaining such a cool blog and more importantly, keeping it so dynamic π Reply
wow…such a fun and novel concept…does she have plans of doing some more using other names? would love to see the compilation and congratulations to you for being a part of this elite group. BTW, we have a ‘common’ friend..its a very small world indeed. Reply
i am amazed at the different projects/things (for the lack of a better word) you seem to get involved with/invited to! π definitely a novel idea. Reply
Hiya Namesake! I’ve been meandering for a while and just landed on this post. What a wonderful recap of a novel evening. Thanks much! And off I go again. Cheers, Anita Lobo Reply
Hey Anita, cool writing and you are a born blogger I must say. btw, I am running a portal for bloggers. My Edition(www.myedition.co.in), a platform for passionate bloggers to blog, make friends and Earn. If you are interested, do sign up and you can post the same contents over there and redirect to your blog/posts. Love to see you there… Reply
It was such a wonderful experience to meet Anita’s from different fields and the credit goes to Anita khemka that she came up with such a unique and wonderful idea. Reply
It was wonderful meeting up with you and all the other Anitas! We were quite an interesting and varied bunch:) May see you at the Bangalore Ultra Reply