Muttai to Nandhu

Today morning I got a call from Nanthakumar, when I was about to wake up from my second innings of sleep. It was a casual call, having no significance to this topic. The significance was the first sentence that I spoke, which pushed me to write. The sentence is "Tell Nandhu", in our vernacular. It might sound quite normal without having enough background.

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The year is 1998 and the scene is set at Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi. It was my first year in engineering, rather our first year engineering. The hostel, which enclosed a variety of dialects, variety of characters due to variety of students from a variety of region across the state, was always overflowing with excitement. My abode was room number 108. The neighboring room 109 was occupied by Nanthakumar from Namakkal. As days passed people in the neighboring rooms came closer, as do me and Nanthakumar. This is when Nanthakumar, a very innocent guy, was baptized "Muttai" against his will and wish. It means "Egg", denoting "Namakkal - Highest egg producing place", where he hails from. This became a very popular name among our college-mates. Everyone recognized him more with this name than his original one. I was one among those behind this baptism and the users.
Nine years passed by. I worked with one of the technology company among the many, which dotted Bangalore, as any Electronic engineer would do. Nanthakumar followed his passion and had cleared the UPSC exams, with a distinction of first rank holder from our state. He was undergoing training at Mussourie. The frequency of contact was reduced, though we were in touch.

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This year, he is undergoing training as Asst. Collector, Coimbatore. We talk quite often, to be in touch, though he has got little free time. But I m little hesitant to call him by name, which we baptized, "Muttai". This became quite apparent when I addressed him as "Nadhu", this morning. As I ponder, I have different reasons like he should not be called by that name in front of other sub-ordinates and so. But the reality is basically the "Glorified and Respectful" designation that he is holding, which makes me hesitant.

This is the best example of taking the criticism head-on and reply back with actions.