36 Comments

This is hilariously brilliant Rohan. I had tears rolling down my cheeks reading it aloud. I knew a couple of babai’s and one raja🤣

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Mar 30Liked by Rohan Banerjee

We need a laugh emoticon along with a like button to show how fun this read was. Sharing it with my Bengali friend. 😁

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This is so good, I keep coming back to this... again and again and again

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Apr 8Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Hilarious punch

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Apr 3Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Superb, Rohan. Consistently funny. While the multi-vowel daak naam might be a Bengali phenomenon, the embarrassing situations of inadvertent or untimely reveals are universal and relatable. This reminded me that a former neighbour used to call their son Neel as Bunnu.

If you puruse this important research topic further, the contrast with Punjabi nicknames (a small set starting with Lucky and Bunty) could be explored.

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This is beyond genius. Sending it to my Rontu uncle, my kid's Chiku mami, and my college friends, Pupai and Jojo.

One Bengali uncle in our multicultural family claims he had no daak naam growing up. Time for me to send him this and make him part with his daak secret. 👽

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Sharing this with my Bengali friend...from a Bihari to a Bengali lol

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Apr 1Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Loved it, Rohan. Thank you for the laughs.

A couple of years back we got a dog and to my horror I found out that I'm capable of pet names I would have scoffed at earlier

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Haha nice read, reminded me of how my daaka na (as read in Odiya) no matter how embarassing, was my only existent identity in the colony during my growing up years in Pune. So much so that, they refused to identify when called out with my real name late into :D.

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After seeing the rave reviews, i waited for the calm of this Sunday morning to savour your piece. Fabulously done, Rohan!

Forwarding this to Tungli now 😄

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Mar 31·edited Mar 31Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Hahaha, this was too funny! Come on - pls share your daak naam, Rohuuu (4 vowels)

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This is hilarious. I was constantly thinking about my struggles with a nickname that I tried to guard at all costs. The embarrassment and frustration when people, who were never supposed to know, found out. Damn!

Love you writing, always.

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This was brilliant — so much fun to read!

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Mar 30Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Bengali formal names deserve a column of their own!

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Mar 30·edited Mar 30Liked by Rohan Banerjee

Growing up in Kolkata, I always wondered where these funny but cute names came from! The two or more vowel theory puts it in perspective:-)

P.s. Gutlu, Bapon, Bapi, Mishti, Puchhi, Shona, Mamoni, and so many more...

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Haha this was brilliant. Much brightened up my Saturday morning!

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