Behind the name: 'Chitralekha'

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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.


Cheers
Chitralekha.


P.S. I have added a picture of the Amar Chitra Katha, in case you want to purchase.

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