What’s in a name?
We all have heard this umpteenth number of times? Many times we have even wondered whether this really is true or not and whether this holds in all situations.
Depends…. that may be our conclusion in most cases. But today with the election fever on a high all around our country, I felt like pondering over this phrase all over again.
We all, as responsible citizens of India, should vote and we will do so.
But whom will we vote for?
Will we be voting for a party, for a person, for an ideology or for a symbol?
Most of us when we go to the polling booth do not even know the face or for that matter even the name of the candidate for whom we cast our vote. All we know is that we will be voting for this party and this party has this symbol. When we see the list of candidates in front of our eyes, all that our eyes do is scan for the correct symbol. Once the symbol has been located, our brain signals us to press the button besides the symbol and Hurray! we have voted!
So where is the name? When you leave the polling booth and if someone asks you to name the person for whom you have voted, how many of us would correctly be able to tell the candidate’s name? All that we would be 100% sure of is the symbol for which we have voted. Barring a few known politicians, name becomes the least important for all electoral candidates. What stands out most is their election symbol. Even when they campaign, it is the symbol that is flashed before the people so that they know whom to vote.
This is one such situation where the name is so insignificant that the person himself may prefer to be referred by his symbol rather than by his name.
So we again come back to our question… What’s in a name?