What's In a Name

A sudden nostalgic attachment for a name long despised

As the time comes for the shedding of the same

Shedding with it a past identity, if an identity is ever past

So much or so little? And they say what’s in a name.

Surfaced from some forgotten ancestral shrines of my forefathers

Sounded proudly before men of worth and honour

Castrated by the British to suit their lack of vocabulary

Re-emerging with the drum roll of Bengal’s mutinous power.

Seventeen long letters, the extent of my identity

Lazy drawling alphabets stretched to fill pages and time

Little knowing how they coloured my personality

Simply musing over its rhythm and rhyme.

And now a sudden nostalgic attachment develops

For this name, that was never really mine

Questioning all that came with it

As it slowly loses its shine.