The Overlap

The Overlap Rinki ba, my usually - balanced cousin who lives 300 odd kilometres away from me, sounded a bit rattled and spoke with an odd unease when she called me a few weeks back. Starting with the usual cursing of China for the COVID-19 outbreak, she steered the conversation to topics like mud in her home's compound, the repulsive taste of the unseasonal mangoes and the futility of the recent floor-disinfectant that she had purchased.  I wondered where this was leading. Was she trying to tell me about some soupy situation where I have landed myself due to my untamed tongue? I wondered if she was trying to tell me that our harmless gossips leaked out and reached the ears of the victims. At one point, I also imagined that Rinki ba was merely trying to cheer me up during the lockdown period.  As my anticipation increased, her speed of conversation decreased. Almost inaudible she said, " I need to tell you something." I exhaled out the breathe that I was holding for some inhuman period of time. "What?" , I asked cautiously. I waited as she whispered on the mobile, " Actually there is something which I need to tell you.You see, there's a dog, a cute one. And Pinki ( Rinki ba's sister who's married to an army doctor, Debu) and Debu recently got her from a retired army family." I scratched my head, trying to find the missing link. I disliked dogs, never even thought of keeping one as a pet, and seriously thought what Pinki's dog has to do with me! I talked with Pinki almost every weekend, and what is it that she had to take the help of her sister to talk to me on her behalf. After a hesitant pause, Rinki ba continued, "The dog's name is Mayuri". Well, that's my name !  I could imagine the effort it took for the sensible, serious Rinki ba to 'break' this news to her volatile cousin - me!! My furry namesake didn't bother me much - the canine Mayuri lives in Delhi Cantontment, while I live in Guwahati..And I haven't had the opportunity to come face to face with her. Priority issues during the coronavirus pandemic, like running the household without my part-timer, returning home  every day from the hospital where I work and getting myself sanitized and coping with the kids' online classes, kept my mind off the 'curious case of naming Mayuri'.. Before long, I heard from Kamalika, my college friend, whose husband Bidhan da is an army doctor. Pinki's family and they are neighbours.  Kamalika has a dog (he goes by the debonair name Daniel); so that makes Bidhan da and Debu dog-walking mates.  One fine evening, Debu and Bidhan da were walking their respective dogs. Suddenly Bidhan da turned serious and turned to Debu, "Goswami da, this will not do. You have to change Mayuri 's name." The concern was for the wife's friend who visited them almost thrice a year, complicated by the fact that she also visited Mayuri 's new home to meet her cousin (Pinki). How can it be that Mayuri should have the same name as a dog?  Knowing both Debu and Bidhan da, I can imagine the looks on their serious faces while the conversation took place. As Kamalika narrated, Debu assured Bidhan da that something has to be done to sort the matter out.  It seems that a week went by, and Bidhan da needed to know whether any effective action was taken or not. So, again over the evening dog walking session, Bidhan da asked Debu what the status of the matter was. Debu, with all the seriousness he could muster, replied, " Mayuri wouldn't accept another name. She's already nine years old; we tried calling her by another name, but she doesn't respond."  The notoriously uncomfortable topic of our (me and my furry namesake) names remains status quo as the COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that I cannot travel to Delhi anytime soon to meet the other Mayuri. And to be honest, this name overlap gave us all a topic other than coronavirus to discuss about in these gloomy  lockdown days. At some point, people probably won’t even remember who came first, me or the dog. But what will remain in the archives of our memory is the situation that it created for us all. This hilarious 'co-naming' nullified Shakespeare ( who famously declared 'what's there in a name!').  And thankfully, I have a pet name which doesn't even rhyme with 'Mayuri '!!