Ambi The Tambram.
By Rummuser. Filed in Uncategorized |Tags: Ambassador, Ambi, Amby, Tambram
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the latest Indian Tambram to hit the global media with his Nobel prize which he won with two others, is known by his short nick name Venky to most of his friends. Within his family however, I believe that he is fondly called Ambi.
You can not run away from the Tambrams. They are ubiquitous. Unlike the last link for Tambrams, this one given here is likely to tickle your fancy more than Kushwant Singh’s take.
This post however is not about Tambrams. It is about the nickname that Sri. Venkatrman Ramakrishnan has been saddled with – Ambi, pronounced Umbee as in umbrella and beehive.This pronunciation is important to differentiate from another ubiquitous Amby, peculiar to India, pronounced Am as in America and by as in biscuit. It is the Ambassador Car, much favoured till recently by our Politicians and Bureaucrats . It looks like this:
Coming back to Ambi, there simply cannot be a Tambram family without a few Ambis in them. In fact, it could get so confusing that very often, recourse to using prefixes like periyambi, chinnambi and naduambi, meaning, big Ambi, small Ambi and middle Ambi respectively. Other differentiators like prefixing the name of the village or town from which that particular Ambi comes is also used, say like Bombay Ambi, Madras Ambi, Boston Ambi, Chicago Ambi etc. Another way to differentiate is to attach the relationship to the name like Ambimama, Ambiathimber, Ambiathhan, Ambithatha for maternal uncle, brother in law, cousin grandfather respectively.
Ambi, is a term of endearment in Tambramese. None of the other Tamil speaking communities or castes use it. There is nothing quite like it in any other Indian language and I should know. In the north, they use words like Munna, Lalu etc, but the impact is not quite the same, nor does the Malayali Unni come anywhere near Ambi for all that it evokes.
In my life there have been many Ambis and I have had my share of being confused about which one was the particular Ambi being referred to. The one inescapable fact about any Ambi however, is that he is loved beyond normal loving by a whole lot of family members, irrespective of whether he deserves such love or not. In fact this is one common denominator for Ambi and the Amby as both are much loved and cherished.
There are also many jokes about Ambis as somehow real life Ambis become so adorable that they keep getting into jams which result in family lores and jokes. Some of them are quite risque and no stag party for Tambram stags will be complete without a few Ambi jokes.
Now, I am sure that, in Venkatraman Ramakrishnan’s family and circle of friends, there must have already been some great jokes about the Nobel Ambi.
Nobel Ambi, from an admiring Tambram, here is congratulating you and wishing you all the very best that life and science can offer.
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 10:44 |
He is a treasure to our country and we should all feel proud for him. I wish this be an inspiration for more youngsters to take up his path. The amazing thing is he has made the world to look back at our country with high esteem and jealousy
.
Rummuser Reply:
October 14th, 2009 at 18:45
I suggest that what is important is that he feels proud of being of Indian origin. Do you think that there is some chance of that?
Jaisundar Reply:
October 15th, 2009 at 21:41
good question. Would like to refer you to Karthiks post here http://knagarajan.blogspot.com/2009/10/venky.html
What would he have achieved if he stayed back in India? Would like a debate on this. We need to sort this one out as Indians.
CV Raman and Ramanujan were able to do much of their work many years ago without state-of-the-art labs or google and digital reservoir of journals and resources. And we are still only on the topic of Scientific research. So many years since them, I wonder how much we have progressed – or regressed. I have no hard views or opinion yet, but just questions popping up.
Rummuser Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 20:28
Sundar, it is often difficult to take sides on issues like this. That is why, I prefer to be wiser by hindsight.
Wednesday, October 14th 2009 at 12:36 |
I’ve never really bother to understand what the meaning of ambi is, but even without knowing it, I do get that sense of affection from people addressing an ambi, whom is very often a likable person himself. It leaves a smile on my face when I think about it
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan should be a proud cause for celebration for Indians everywhere. Congratulations to him.
Rummuser Reply:
October 14th, 2009 at 15:58
Nice to have you come here Lorna. I see that your site is doing very well. Keep coming and commenting. I too shall do so in your blog.
Thursday, October 15th 2009 at 02:05 |
Rummy, I must be a Tam Bram! I passed the litmus test, I said “Hindu” instead of “Hinthu”.
What kind of prize do I get? Oh! that’s right you have been sending me “prizes”, and I thank you!
Rummuser Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 20:24
Welcome aboard brother. Your prize is Nirvana.
Thursday, October 15th 2009 at 06:09 |
“Typical Tam Brams are bespectacled and brainy. We love our math and curd-rice.” In the U.S. they would be called nerds. It’s hard to believe we won’t eventually pay for that attitude.
Rummuser Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 20:24
They are called worse here!
Thursday, October 15th 2009 at 10:56 |
A common nickname in the north of India is Bablu or Babli. Babli is the name which my husband is called by his family members. A few years ago Pepsi brought out an ad ‘hey bubbly, hey bubbly,’ My kids used the tease their father by singing this song whenever they saw him. Well, my husband has a good sense of humour so he enjoyed the joke….
Rummuser Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 20:22
One of the many nicknames that Ranjan has is oddly enough Bablu or Bubbles. I like to call him Bubbles and he does not seem to mind even now at 38!
Fathers cannot mind their children pulling their legs can they?
Friday, October 16th 2009 at 09:23 |
I applaud Venky’s achievement, by the way!!!