What’s in a name?

One of my part time interests is knowing about names...whenever I hear a new name I have this compelling urge to find out what it means.. The other day a new girl (or should I say Lady?) joined one of the multitude of IT teams here. Her name was Tamsa*... Now the name-digger in me was aroused enough to google and find out that Tamsa is the name of a river in MadhyaPradesh (a’ la Kaveri or Ganga). Hence the name...

Well, I also have this part-time urge to share interesting trivia with unsuspecting people without even considering the possibility that they might not be interested or as in this case a little too interested for all the wrong reasons. So... As a luncheon discussion topic, I flaunted my knowledge of the name to my colleagues... Quite harmless. Right? The problem was, despite being a guy myself, I for a moment forgot to consider the multi-nefarious ways that a male mind can work and the multiple misinterpretations that any human mind can concoct. It was also very naive of me to not consider the attractive complexion or the appreciable configuration of the female under discussion.

This resulted in M telling V that I had an eye for her; V in turn told B that I had a crush on her; B told D that I liked her coz of her attractive complexion; And D told K that I liked her due to her sweet voice... Now all this did not happen over a week’s or day’s time... Everything happened in 5 minutes as each guy came and sat around the table in the canteen... 5 minutes and an innocent comment is converted into an indication(or indictment?) of insatiable infatuation... Un-freakin-believable!!! Boys will always be Boys... But then some of us (like me :)) choose to grow up into MEN... I tried to put my foot down and make them realise that I was not interested in her. But, do you really think it worked?
Finally S came to the table and informed us that the girl was already married. That’s when the leg-pulling stopped. I was relieved that the charade was over... But NO, it wasn’t. In one moment they changed me from a love-smitten lad into a grieving heart-broken lover...

So here I am supposedly grieving for missing out on a girl (or should I certainly say Lady now?) who I was supposed to be ogling, who is apparently happily married, and in whom I hadn’t the slightest of interest... But my colleagues haven’t till now accepted and would never accept the FACT that I was only remotely interested in the name and the name only...

* - Name changed to protect identity ;-) So please don’t go orkutting in search for her :-)