Behind the name: 'Chitralekha'
Behind the name “Chitralekha”
Wow, now that's a name you won’t find on coke bottles. But
then so are most other Indian names. The intriguing part of peculiar names,
especially Indian ones, is the mythological backgrounds that they generally
come from. Mine for instance comes from the story of Usha and Aniruddha. Who’s
that? Read your Amar Chitra Katha-s PLEASE. But that's okay, I’ll tell you the
story. Let’s start a fresh paragraph.
The Story of Usha and Aniruddha. Here goes.
Once upon a time there was this really pretty girl, like Angelina
Jolie level. This girl is NOT Chitralekha. Her name was Usha, daughter of
Banasura, an asura. And one fine day, she had a dream about this gorgeous man whose
name she didn't even know. But of course, we know him, he was Aniruddha. Yeah
she just dreamt about him without ever meeting him. Yeah, that's 100 %
possible. Anyway, the point is she dreamt about him, and like any teenage girl,
she got obsessed with him. She was distressed about not knowing him. So
Chitralekha, her best friend, drew pictures of different men while Usha described
his features, a lot like a how a sketch artist draws suspects. Anyway, when she
drew Anirudha, Usha recognized him right away. Chitralekha obviously knew who
he was, ‘cause she was like super smart. “Ohhh, you were talking about
Aniruddha” she probably said. After this Chitralekha uses her magic powers,
that's right folks, magic powers, to kidnap Aniruddha from his palace. At this
point I should probably mention that Aniruddha was Krishna’s grandson. So when
Krishna found out that his grandson had been kidnapped, he raged a war against
Banasura. I’m not telling you about the war, ‘cause there is no Chitralekha in
that part. In the end Krishna’s side wins but Usha and Aniruddha do get married. So
it's a win-win situation for everyone. Well everyone except Banasura, who lost
the war and his daughter.Poor guy.
That’s the story of that Chitralekha. My namesake, who could
draw, write, was an intellectual personality and best of all, had MAGIC POWERS.
Why I got named Chitralekha is because both my parents are artists AND
journalists. They probably thought I would be like this artsy intellectual
child. Oh well.
P.S. I have added a picture of the Amar Chitra Katha, in case you want to purchase.
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