In late August, the northern Indian state of Bihar experienced massive flooding. The water reached unprecedented levels in several locations and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
A handful of the babies born amid the floods were given baby names inspired by the Ganges river:
- Gangesh, a baby boy born in a relief camp. His mother said, “I named him Gangesh as we have been displaced by the river. The name will always remind me that my first child was born in a relief camp.”
- Gangaputra Bhism, a baby boy born aboard a rescue boat. The word putra means “son,” so his full first name means “son of the Ganges.” In Hindu mythology, the character Gangaputra is also known by the name Bhishma.
- Namami Gange, another baby boy born aboard a rescue boat. The word namami refers to bowing or prostration. Namami Gange is also the name of a government program launched in 2014 to decrease pollution in the Ganges.
One of the babies born during last year’s flood got the particularly unique acronym-name NDRF, which honors India’s National Disaster Response Force. His last name was Singh, so he immediately reminded me of Skylab Singh.
Sources:
- “‘Namami Gange’ To ‘NDRF Singh’, Floods Rule Bihar Baby Names.” NDTV 31 Aug. 2016.
- Kumar, Manish. “In Flooded Bihar, Baby Born On Boat Is Named ‘Namami Gange’.” NDTV 25 Aug. 2016.
- “India Ganges floods ‘break previous records’.” BBC News 30 Aug. 2016
Image: The Ganga River, Sunset from Patna by Prabhat114 under CC BY-SA 4.0.
P.S. One of the sources of the Ganges is Nanda Devi…