Names That Built India | Ep 51

[00:00:00] This is the ball that got us the T20 World Cup Collector of moments that matter Sunil Gavaskar The bat has nine holes He had this bat specially made for him This is Rohit Sharma's bat Blood form, Rohit Sharma

[00:00:29] Daki used in the 2023 World Cup India's history quietly lives in the names that parents choose for their children Lakshmi is one of the top names We got the top 10 names of all times And top 10 names across decades from independence We are a country of stories Every family has stories But they are lost over a period of time So how do you preserve it for generations to come? These haatou ki lakir bhi, ajeeep si hai Kammak mutthi mein to hai, par kaabu mein nahi hai

[00:00:57] This is India, A Story in the Making And I'm your host, Loveena Tandon What's the most popular male name in India since 1947? Female name? Top 10 male or female name decade by decade since independence? Don't bother Don't strain your brain because someone has already figured it out

[00:01:27] This person has gone through 1.6 billion public records To find out name trends in India between 1947 and 2025 And then he went on to ask the question, why? Why some names have thrived, some names have dimmed down And some names have survived decades to be the top names

[00:01:51] No, no, he's not a linguist, not a historian, not an onomatician Someone who studies names for living But he's a businessman Right here where I'm sitting in London But for me, he is a collector Collector of moments that matter And at this moment, I'm sitting in his house Surrounded by one religion that unites India

[00:02:19] Cricket and the memories that it brings to us Yes, this is his cricket memorabilia But this is not all There is much more And I want to reach out to something But Drum roll I can't till I introduce Vivek Desai Welcome Hello Loveena, how are you? I'm very well, thank you Vivek It's surreal to be sitting in this room

[00:02:48] Surrounded with memories, moments, stories, right? This room is full of memories And actually this is India's shared memories Indian cricket's shared memories You bring an Indian out of India But you can't take that cricket out of him Definitely not with Vivek But the story is beyond cricket as well But let's talk about cricket Sure So I wanted to reach out to this I wanted to hold it But Vivek told me

[00:03:16] You can't do that This is the most drum roll again Prized possession See what he's doing He's picking up the ball that got India The T20-2024 World Cup Yeah, this Can I wear the gloves, please? Of course So I can't hold it without wearing the gloves So here we are So why is that? Why can't we hold it without wearing the gloves? Because everyone's hand has a little bit of oil Which we don't realize Yeah So it goes through the ball

[00:03:46] And it goes through paper and all So any antique item you should So hold it Yeah, the hand oil doesn't I'm not a cricket buff by the way I stopped watching cricket when Chetan Sharma Bolled the 6 to me at that Okay That was my end After that It was my end of life Because there's too much emotions to handle But this I had a little goosebump go through my hand So this is the ball that got us the T20 World Cup Expensive, huh? I can't I don't think it's a question of expensive

[00:04:15] I don't look at honestly at it as a price But you know this ball belongs to the moment That millions of Indians will never forget Yes And that moment brought a nation together Yes So very difficult to put a price on the feelings of people in that moment Yes I understand So that's what this ball is all about We can put that ball away And I want to before I go into this whole name world of Vivek He has many worlds by the way

[00:04:44] I don't know whether I'll have time to talk about his profession But tell us the most priced possessions with beautiful stories This is a bat which is used by Mr. Sunil Gavaskar In 1979 at Lourdes The bat has 9 holes Okay And we all know what a cricketer Mr. Gawaskar was technically Yes So he had this bat specially made for him by Duncan Fernley But after the match, the bat was banned

[00:05:11] The cricket board thought it damages the ball So it was used in 1979 He scored 50 odd and 40 odd runs at Lourdes So this is one of the most priced possessions One of the bats And you met him, yeah? I have met him, yeah So tell me the story of you meeting Sunil Gawaskar I met him along with my son Rahil For me, I told Mr. Gawaskar on his face that For me, you are God because we have grown up watching you

[00:05:40] But for my son, he was just a great expert commentator Because he's not seen him back But when we sit in this room And when we talk about history, the 1979 series Me and my son both know that we met a living legend Yeah It's all about cricket that not only unites a country as you said It's religion in India But it unites generations across Yes, of course It's like a bond between family as well That moment when you are cheering together for your country Absolutely

[00:06:09] You are rooting for your country And somehow it's an exhilarating feeling of the second one Also this is a very prized possession This is Rohit Sharma's bat That he used in the 2023 World Cup Signed by him He was the second highest scorer in the 2023 World Cup He used this bat, he scored a little below 600 runs He was the second highest scorer after Mr. Kohli And I think in my career That is the most dominant Indian team I've seen ever

[00:06:36] And I'd gone to the stadium to watch a lot of the Indian matches They didn't win the final But I think it was the most dominant team ever That when they walked on the cricket field You knew they were going to smash the opposition So how do you say that I want that back And I want Rohit to sign it How do you choose your memory? So you think of Okay, does this have a piece of history? Does it have a piece of great memory? Not only for India but for the World Cup You know, it has a great for India

[00:07:06] But for me whenever I see the ball It reminds me of Surya Kumari Adav's catch That was the defining moment in the match We all Indians knew that Yes, we have won the World Cup So you just remember that And then sometimes you meet the cricketers Or sometimes the ICC Auctions stuff That's how you get it So this was for charity That Mr. Rohit Sharma was auctioning it And that's where I got it Is it more memory? Is it more story connected? Or is it more an investment?

[00:07:36] I've never looked at any of these things as investments It's more memories And if they are personal memories, even better But they're all memories of India, Indian cricket Go on, personal memory bat Or ball This is a whole room full of bats And balls And shirts and T-shirts So a whole three episodes will go If I kept on talking about it So now let's hear a story It's 1983 When it all began for India

[00:08:06] And I have a bat signed by the two finalists The first India and West Indies Along with Australia The third semi-finalist And then there's a bat Which is a replica Of the bat used by Mr. Kapil Dev To score the 175 not out against Zimbabwe And this is from the collection of Mr. Sandeep Patel So I was lucky to meet Mr. Patel at his residence And he was very kind enough to give his replica of the bat

[00:08:35] Signed by the entire Indian team Which played in the 1983 World Cup And for me, why it was memories Because today also The finals I yet remember Which part on the sofa I was sitting on Which ball I was jumping up and down You know those are memories that you don't forget You're capturing that moment Correct You said I went to Sandeep Patel's residence As if you're saying very So there is a whole thing you

[00:09:03] Do they call you because you're the biggest fan No, no, no Somehow I was able to connect to him Through a friend of mine You reached out Yeah, I reached out through a friend of mine And as I said he was kind enough In fact my friend was surprised Because Mr. Patel never invites anyone to his house So he has also never been to his house So when he came with me It was the first time that he Do you know how many bats, balls do you possess? And I won't even dare to ask you the sum

[00:09:30] That it all stacks up to So it will be a few hundred bats Because I have a lot in storage Because my wife does not allow me to leave this room So yeah, a lot in storage But she doesn't allow that you put it up in the drawing room No, no other rooms can be used So this is our room of memories So yeah, I have a few hundred bats and balls And how often do you come and sit here? So any cricket matches going on I watch it in this TV room With history surrounded

[00:09:59] And you don't look at your credit card bill and say Oh my God, what did I do? I don't link money to the memories Because the moment you start linking it Then it's a transaction God bless you that they gave you enough to do this God has been very kind Since you then got on to this finding names in India And how Indians name their children I want to know from this room Are there any names that are on the top 20 list

[00:10:28] Or all time top 20 list? There are some names in the top 10 All time top 10 It's Sunil, Mr. Sunil Gavaskar We have Anil Kumli as one of our cricketers And post that is Rahul Rahul I am not sure how many are named after Rahul Dravid But Rahul is there and Rohit is there Rohit is there So Sunil, Anil, Rahul and Rohit

[00:10:53] Are the names that have figured in the top 20 all time or in decades? No, so Anil, Sunil are in the top 10 of all times Since 1947 to 2025 Amongst the top 20 names The names that figure are? Anil and Sunil And Rahul and Rohit They are from the 90s onwards Rohit is from 2000 onwards Rahul is from 90 onwards

[00:11:22] Right, so do you think there is any correlation Because Sunil Gavaskar was so great So people were naming their children Sunil I think so because in the 81 to 90 period Sunil touched on the top 4 Was number 4 or number 5 And the only thing I would say is because of Mr. Gavaskar Right, children started being named after Sunil Gavaskar Because he started his career in 71 Playing for India He was a god for a lot of people in India

[00:11:52] And that's how people would have started naming their children after him Okay, so let's unravel this whole name history now You are a businessman Yes You come from South Bombay Born into a businessman family Happy, well off And then you leave India And you come to the UK With a job in Sonata That's right Correct? Yes And then from Sonata You start your business

[00:12:20] So get me to the moment in your life When you decided That you want to find out And sift through this 1.6 billion public records To find out who has named their children How and why? I left Sonata, I started my company Another technology company But I think what this triggered was in the Covid times In the Covid times I started building my family tree And I was able to go back 12 or 13 generations Talking to uncles, aunts, cousins

[00:12:50] And we were building it And then of course it was in our family How many people have common names But each generation you saw had very different names So there was no commonality Then we were looking at the 1.6 billion Indian records That we had collected from public records These records were not just simple Because we had to... Each state had the language So Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi So we had to translate or transliterate each record

[00:13:20] Many of our voters record the electoral rolls over decades And then to that we had to sync the names So like if you see Lakshmi Okay, it's one of the top names But in West India it's spelled L-A-X-M-I In South India it's L-A-K-S-H-M-I It means the same thing So then we synced all these names To ensure that there was commonality And then we said which are the top 100 names And which are the top 10 names

[00:13:47] And is there any historic trend to these names So that's how it started off And we got the top 10 names of all times And top 10 names across decades from independence I want to again go back to that COVID moment Lot of sadness happened in COVID But many lives have been transformed by COVID as well I feel And you transformed your life journey That's what I'm hearing

[00:14:14] Is there any moment that you could take us to Which said that or any why You wanted to find out names and make a family tree? It was just like where have you come from And you know COVID times we all were isolated in some fashion Obviously you know you talk to people But physically the isolation was there So that was a fascination that you know this is the time We have a little more time on our hands in life From the hustle bustle So let's find out where do we come from

[00:14:43] What our family's history is and so on and so forth So I think when I spoke to you first You told me that you were in isolation You had contracted COVID and you were in isolation And in that moment of isolation And you decided to find out about So where you come from Yeah, where I come from and the other thing also that triggered Is the Imiasui thinking So it was you know just thinking that We should do something for Indians And I know it might sound too philosophical

[00:15:11] But it is all about no one should feel lonely in life And family is the best support system you can ever have When you know that someone is there to look after your back If anything happens That was all the triggers And those triggers little by little Now I get it So no one should feel lonely in this world That's right For someone who is removed from India I can understand that feeling

[00:15:37] So it started from a personal journey of finding where you come from That's right That's right And where did it take you? So that like if I was to say you know the whole idea was to Find out family To find out the stories of family Because in India we are a country of stories Every family has stories Love Discord All families But they are lost over a period of time So how do you preserve it for generations to come Even after 100 years

[00:16:06] And all these stories are what I would say very powerful in the family Because let's say when I came to London in 97 I used to think I don't know anyone Establish a business for Sonata But when I got to know the story of my grandfather How in the 20s he came from a village Rana Vau Near Porbandar With 7 children To Bombay to establish himself I am sure he must have gone through the same fear and fright And he did it very successfully

[00:16:35] So these are stories that motivate a family And if we don't preserve them Then they quietly disappear over time So just to give an example No one of my uncles or aunts Know the correct birth date Of my grandfather or grandmother Even the year they'll say Approximate this year We know the birth date of leaders We learn it historically But why don't we know about our family? How beautiful

[00:17:04] So that's what led to it And then we developed Aimiya Sve So that people could preserve the stories Why was it so important for you to preserve the stories? I always think that we tend to read a lot of autobiographies Or biographies of famous people But our family itself Gives us such great advice That we don't need to go beyond So I can just go My father was a businessman And he always told me That if you are running a business

[00:17:33] There are only three things you have to remember in life Pay your salaries on time Pay your rent on time Pay your bank interest on time And no one will ask you What you are doing in life These are simple advices Which our families give Which we tend to forget And then we'll read some You know famous leaders Quotes and all Which we cannot even relate to And then we'll say that's philosophical That's very nice That's a mantra we should follow But we are not able to relate While our parents, grandparents, families have gone through

[00:18:03] So why not learn from that? That's where you preserve The other thing you look at it If you don't preserve stories There'll be one day When your name will be spoken for the last time And after that, the only time The only thing that will keep you alive Is the story someone remembers about you It's true So why do we not preserve it? And I don't think I can put it better than how you have put it That somewhere our parents, grandparents Run into our DNA

[00:18:31] And we have had that emotional connect And that advice just comes alive with that connect See, sorry, just to mention another Today we go back And we talk about Ayurvedic food We talk about old remedies We say it's old wives tales But they have some scientific bearing And they come from our grandparents Because they've gone through it, right? Why do we forget all these things? And why does the West have to tell us That ghee is very good for your health?

[00:19:01] Or XYZ is very good for your health Or yoga is very good for your health We come from that civilization So it's important to preserve our history India is coming to realize its civilizational history And what it brings on the table Somewhere with 200 years of English being there And everyone else We didn't value it so much And same goes for families as well Our history Is what matters And what has got us here

[00:19:31] How well and beautifully And then you made this company IMEASVI And then we established IMEASVI So tell me about your journey from Sifting through 1.6 billion to IMEASVI And consolidating it So as I said, we had all these records We synced up, we translated Translatorated across all the Indian languages Got it to English Baselined all the spellings The same name but spelled differently In different parts of India

[00:19:58] And then we ran a data science algorithm and so on To extract the names And then we looked at it decade-wise and so on This is the point where if I don't get into What and which were the top names and why People will kill me And I will kill myself I am very curious Top 5 names in 1947 to 1960 Men and women The top names for the women were Lakshmi, Gita, Shanti, Sunita and Kamla So Lakshmi was at the top

[00:20:28] Lakshmi was at the top People wanted money I can tell And it's all time favourite from 1947 to now Oh, what's Lakshmi's favourite? Lakshmi is all time favourite Lakshmi come, we are all inti-zaa Please, when will Lakshmi come? Every Diwali will say Lakshmi come, Lakshmi come And for the males it was Ram, Mohamed, Krishna, Ramesh and Pren Ram again

[00:20:55] And Ram again is an all time favourite from 1947 to 2025 Are you serious? Ram and Lakshmi? Ram and Lakshmi, top Number one on? Both, yeah, across from independence So, since 1947 to 2025, Ram is the number one And Lakshmi is the number one One in females, yes, yes You know? That's why we are religious country Spiritual I would like to believe

[00:21:24] But okay, Ram Ram is not in the same way Ram Ram, correct, correct, correct So, Ram, Mohamed, Krishna, Ramesh and Pren So now, what does this tell you about the decade? How did you make that correlation? Historical, cultural correlation? See, one thing that we found was that India's history, when you are doing this exercise Is not just the events Is not just the leaders But India's history quietly lives

[00:21:54] In the names that parents choose for their children And if you broadly saw the name list From 1947 to 2025 What it shows is that Immediately after independence The names had more of an identity In terms of they were more traditional Mythological Based on faith, you know, Ram, Krishna Lakshmi we saw, Gita we saw So they were based on that

[00:22:21] Anima that was influencing the aspirations of the people Go on then, 60 to 70 Ram continues, Ram is all That's why Ram is being made But I won't say all that different I'll just say there are two popular movie star names Ashok, Ashok Kumar And Rajendra Kumar That was Ashok Kumar was number 3 No, no, wait, Ashok Kumar or Ashok? Ashok, Ashok But it's taken from Ashok Kumar Because we talked to a lot of people who had the name Ashok And they said we were named after Ashok Kumar Our parents favourite

[00:22:50] Oh, so this is 60, 70s So the parents were naming their children So they loved Ashok Kumar So they named their children In 60, Ashok Rajendra Kumar was known as the silver jubilee star Silver jubilee hero So you know those kind of names that became popular along with the name of the children's name. So again, Ram was popular Krishna was popular, Shankar was popular, Shiv was popular So God's name was always been popular But then cinemas decided to have an influence

[00:23:20] Now women named in 60 to 70 Yeah, Lakshmi, Gita, Shanti, Kamla and Sunita What were heroines doing in 60, 70? They were not having any impact? No, their impact started in the 70s So in 70s you got Rekha You got Meena for Meena Kumari Oh sorry, Meena was there in 60s also, 60 to 70 So not in the top 5 but it was in the top 10 So now we are moving from 1947 to 60 More identity, Ram Ram Japo

[00:23:48] And then in 60s to 70, the cinema was having an impact Yeah, so I would say that cinemas had an impact from 60s to 90s Now we move on to 70 to 80 decades In the males, the top 5 Ram continues Ram is still on top? Still on top, then you have Sanjay, Ramesh, Santosh and Ashok So Ashok Kumar moves down Moves down from number 3 to number 5 There is a new entrant in that list at number 7

[00:24:17] Rajesh Rajesh Khanna So cinema is continuing the influence And religion and spirituality continuing the influence The female side is Lakshmi, Sunita, Gita, Anita and Sangeeta And Rekha has moved to number 6 And Meena has moved to number 7 I think Meena Kumari died in the 70s or something Okay, got it Then liberalisation from 90s Ram moved to number 3, Santosh was number 1

[00:24:47] What was the reason of Santosh appearing in, is this 90s? Santosh appearing in the 80s to 90 decade Maybe it was the time when India was going through its own challenges And again, it's the aspirations of people of that generation What happened in 84, we lost Mrs. Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi came A lot of hope on him So have patience, have patience, Santosh of hope And then we moved to the next decade, 99 to 2000

[00:25:17] And that's where the liberalisation impact happened Global exposure, a little more confidence as a country And that's again shown its names So again, the names that became popular in the 90s The number 1 out of nowhere was Rahul Oh! So, we think that's the influence of Shah Rukh Khan Which continues, till today, number 1 I'm sure Rahul Dravid also has an impact

[00:25:45] That time he was not known, he came much later in cricket So Rahul continues Sunil moved up to number 3 Muhammad was number 2 And then Santosh moved down Rajesh was there at number 5 And then Anil was always there from independence and all But that also became very popular And on the ladies side The same names continued Sunita, Anita, Lakshmi But there's a new name that came in in the top 5 It was Priyanka Which wasn't there earlier Priyanka is where is it coming from?

[00:26:15] Not Priyanka Chopra Not Priyanka Chopra It's just, I think it's just a terminology that I've picked up Priyanka Chopra came much later And Pooja continued to be number 1 in the 90s decade Pooja was number 1 Then... Sunita, new entry And Muhammad also is coming So it just shows that... There's a concentration of names that Muslims select for their children Yeah, so Ali and... Abdul and Sheikh and Mohammed And Mohammed being the most popular Most popular Okay, of course, all time

[00:26:44] I think it would be all time in the world as well I feel Correct, correct, correct So that liberalization continued and we come to the decade of 2000 onwards So Rahul considered again number 1 Let's play a music by Rahul Yeah, and Rohit entered the picture But I don't think it was to do with Rohit Sharma Because he came much later in 2007 But that entered the picture

[00:27:10] And then there were new names like Vikas, Suraj, Amit Which were not there earlier Which started entering in the top 10 And on the female side Pooja continues To the top... So Pooja is the top 1 Then Priya, instead of Priyanka Now we have Priya which has become in the top 1 Lakshmi Which was number 4 earlier Now moves to number 3 So again... Number 5, in top 5 5, Pooja, Priya, Lakshmi, Aarti and Jyoti

[00:27:40] Aarti is an entry as well And Jyoti is... Yeah, yeah What was the reason behind this Aarti appearing? See, now India was trying to find its identity in the world Liberalization, global exposure Names became shorter That's what we see That names started becoming shorter Because people became more global So easily, pronunciable And also names became more individual From earlier times Okay, so that was the impact I would say of the new generation

[00:28:08] 1991 India opened up Opened up 2000 we had found our feet As you know economically we were doing very well Yes Okay, fastest growth rate, GDP and so on So that's where India found its feet And then we come to 2011 to 2025 And the top name is Rahul again It continues to be... The impact that he has had Just through movies Having the name Rahul is unbelievable You cannot even think

[00:28:37] Because there is no other Rahul you can think That has this impact, right? And however much any Rahul has done bad in the world It's all been overridden If I can say by Shah Rukh Khan's Rahul Absolutely And then we have Rohit as number 2 I think this, the period, the 15 years 2011 to 2025 A lot of impact of Rohit Sharma On the naming of children Ankit is a new name that suddenly appears Ankit Ram continues and Muhammad

[00:29:06] That is the top 5 males And females, Pooja continues Kajal, Priyanka, Rani and Arati So Rani has been there in the top 10 couple of times But suddenly jumps number 4 Again, we believe the impact could be a movie impact Of Rani Mukherjee And maybe in some movies You know the name Rani So in some fashion, the names reflect the way The history of India You can see that shift

[00:29:35] Because, and it makes it very clear That each period Reflects those times Why people are naming them Their children What they are naming them And it's just not a parent giving a name It's all about the parents' ambition Or what that generation wanted to do Reflecting in their names How beautiful Lakshmi, Pooja, Arati They are reflecting that Just like these items

[00:30:02] Reflect the story of Indian cricket over decades These names reflect the history of India itself How did you correlate this? What work did you do To find the correlation between names and the history of India? That was the easy bit Because when you look at the names itself They stand out Why historical? Why mythological figures? Because that is reflecting India's search for identity India's search for hope after independence And then you see how the names become

[00:30:33] Change to movie stars Or how they change to shorter after the liberalization So that was a very easy correlation How the names are changing So we spoke to a lot of people Many people didn't know how the names are given Right But a lot of people knew Ashok was after Ashok Kumar Sunil was after Sunil Gavaskar Rahul was after Shah Rukh Khan Still continues Still continues SRK His name is Shahrukh Shahrukh has not been named or appears

[00:31:02] But Rahul appears Rahul appears everywhere So that's how we did the correlation Of talking to people And understanding where their names could have come from How wonderful Vivek, do you know your name story? My name as a... The Sanskrit meaning of my name is Clarity, wisdom, the ability to take the right decisions But saying that a lot of people will not agree I have all those qualities And honestly I agree with them Because Labina life is a journey And life has slowly been helping me

[00:31:32] To grow into my name To have those qualities You're trying to be your name? I'm trying to be my name What my qualities are But do you know why your parents named you Vivek? I didn't ask them that You got to ask that question, huh? Correct, no my parents have passed away See that's where I'm saying you need to preserve the story And what I would have found interesting So my parents passed away much before Covid Almost a decade before Covid Is what were the rejected name list? Every parent comes up with 5-6 names

[00:32:01] And then they select this one So I would have loved to know What was the rejected name list? And why were they rejected? Why were they rejected and why were you... Because again it goes to the thing that It shows the parents hopes and ambitions of the child That's exactly it So for anyone who wants to actually find out Because we only went... Sifted through the decades And just the top 5 It's... Tell Vivek where can they find this name list

[00:32:30] And how their history... Go to the IMEASVI website It's I-M-E-U-S-W-E dot I-N You will be able to download this book in a PDF format And it's all fear of cost And you can figure out which were the top names And why were the top names And this is so crazy and amazing I know my name story by the way Oh you okay... I know my name story... My name story is that when I was born So my astrology Chakshar was Dha

[00:32:59] Now I've been Dha Khan only I've been on my life But who names anyone from Dha or Dha or whatever it is I was given a very terrible name by the astrologer And a friend of my mother came and she said How lovely, lovey... How lovely, lovey... And my mother caught on to that And she kept on doing permutation combination of prefix and suffix Okay...

[00:33:26] And she ultimately ended with Laveena So it's love, L-O-V-E and then E-N-A I love my name and I thank my mother for it I thank my mother for it And I don't think I have been able to name my children as well as my mother named me So this is my name story and it is beautiful But you're absolutely right, in India the names are based on Rashi So my Rashi is Rushab Rashi Which is B-W-U So the V... you know you have to have a name

[00:33:56] That's how... but now trends have completely changed As we become more modern, names become more shorter More pronunciable in school But earlier it was all based on Rashi I was just... this one thought was crossing my head In the UK, you have the John the One, John the Junior, Edward the One, George They have just 10 names where they shoot from To the extent that Shakespeare said what's in a name Tell this to an Indian, what's in a name He said everything

[00:34:24] Absolutely, you know for Shakespeare what's in a name He said it, which is fine But as you said, for an Indian everything is in a name Because a name reflects the hope, the direction, the destiny that the parents think of their children Just think about it and I'll pick up two names in this room itself And one is Virat Kohli You have the T-shirt signed by him So just think about it, that Virat, what does it mean?

[00:34:52] It means vast, immense, larger than life And imagine the thought, what his parents would have been going through When they were naming, the ambitions his parents would have had When they were naming him, Virat And somewhere, he's not even lived up to his name But he's even expanded his name Yes, he's made Virat move Virat He's realized it, like you are doing with me Absolutely, so that's the power of a name Yeah Or take another cricketer, Yuvraj Singh

[00:35:22] You know, I have this poster signed by him He was very kind enough to sign it Which shows the six sixes It's an iconic shot for all Indians You know, from the 2007 World Cup And Yuvraj we know means a prince And just imagine, we all know his journey We all know how he rose, how he carried himself How he lived up to his name on the cricketing field, Yuvraj But not only that, but also in life Even when he was battling cancer He fought like a true warrior and came out as a champion

[00:35:51] Again, that's the power of a name So for Indians, name Not only defines your identity But it invites you to become something It is beautiful That you are actually trying to be a name And somewhere this name It is our identity And we want to realize it to the best of our potential Is that what you're saying? Yeah, and even more important Over time We are honoring our parents Or whoever chose our name

[00:36:20] By growing into that name Because it was their ambition The destiny they saw for the child When they saw the child and decided to name that And in India, and amongst Indians And especially actually amongst Hindus There is such a big ceremony This whole Namkaran ceremony We all carry spiritualism along with The aspiration, culture, spiritualism How the country is feeling at the moment To how the films you are watching

[00:36:50] The sports you are watching Everything goes into naming your child And that is India And the names, as I said The trends have changed So now if you see One thing I've tried to notice Is I see Indian people, Indian origin people They are married to Americans They are married to Britishers and all Or vice versa But the name they give their children Is not Edward, 7, 8 and all It's an Indian name You look at a lot of American politicians specifically Where the wives are Indian

[00:37:19] Husband is American But the name given Is an Indian name Because the Indian names have a lot of identity and meaning Yes, because it is from scriptures And it has a lot of history The names carry history, geography, culture And aspirations Correct Right from where you came from Yes, exactly Exactly Or even what India was at that moment in time Yes, I am very worried about my children Naming their children

[00:37:47] Because my daughter comes every day saying What do you think about Emma? And what do you think about some Ollie? I said, I will not think When you name your child It has to be Indian And I know she is not named Indian Because that's another story So I do have name stories of my children But yes, it is for mixed family children So let's do an episode on mixed family children names also, Vivek But I must tell you one personal thing on mixed family

[00:38:16] So my daughter is married to a Scottish person But they are my two granddaughters So they have given them Indian names But they are short names So it's easily said in school So one is known as Laila Okay And the other is known as Tara So they are short enough Global enough But they have an Indian identity Now names have to be global Yet rooted in tradition, culture in India That's right

[00:38:45] So what we noticed also when we are looking at names Tara, Maya, Arjun, Rhea These names have become more global names now They carry well internationally So we noticed parents naming them their children after that What is Aimi Aswi doing? Aimi Aswi is basically three things It's all about your family So you create your family tree We have 1.6 billion records which we keep on adding You can find people there Build your tree, you preserve your stories

[00:39:14] Which are for only your family members You create a group And you can also do astrology And why the astrology is because Astrology is not individual It's your karma and your family karma So you look at everything together That's what our astrologers do Astrology was one of the demands that our customers had And so we introduced that Okay, when you go to an Aimi Aswi app and download it What will it do for you? It will do three things

[00:39:43] So you can create your family tree You can do consultations with astrologers Or AI We have an AI astrologer also And you can write your family stories Okay, if you put your name in there Are you able to find out where are your other family members living Or how does it help you create the family tree? So I can give you one anecdote, very interesting anecdote Yes, please tell me how does it work? I want to understand So there is this person maybe in the 20s He reached out to us saying that

[00:40:13] His father had a cousin brother And they had grown up together But they have lost touch They have not been in touch for some decades But while he was searching in our app He found that gentleman Which he believes is his father's first cousin And he wanted to reach out to them So we wrote to the gentleman That so and so wants to get in touch with you Is it okay if we connect you to them? They said please connect They were actually the cousins there that lost touch So this gentleman was in Ratnagiri

[00:40:42] And the boy and his father was somewhere in South India I don't remember the village And we were able to connect them So this gives us such great joy That we are able to connect families together So I could come to your app, write my name If I find another Tundan, reach out to you and say Can I connect to this Tundan and see if they are a part of our family And slowly you can build a family tree And then you write your own story there It creates a life story

[00:41:11] So as the more information you add There will be a life story Loveena Tandon born on so and so date Finish graduation, finish this, finish that Move to London You can see a life story Which you can just send that link to someone That's what Aimi Aswi allows you to do On the family side Okay And preserving stories Alright, and now you have an astrology section Because the people who are coming in wanted that Why did they want it? I think today's world

[00:41:40] Especially post-Covid and all We live in an anxious world And everyone needs that guiding hand What will happen to you? So they said can we have some consultations with astrologers That was a growing field also So we said why not? And that's why we built up a base of astrologers Who we interviewed Just to ensure that we wanted quality rather than quantity So they'll come to your page They can have an AI astrologer Yeah, they have a choice So how is an AI, what is, if AI can do everything

[00:42:09] When you put it on ChatGPT, it does everything Why do you need an astrologer? People say that ChatGPT does everything It has to be fine-tuned So the models have to be trained What ChatGPT shows you will make you happy You will say, very good But the model is not correct We have seen that and you can keep on trying it So we have trained the models Plus we do a lot of consultations Where actual astrologers are talking to people We use a lot of that information To keep on training the model And we are breaking it down to a very simplistic

[00:42:38] See, when you see an astrology chart It will say this planet will move in How much can you understand? You want that, what will happen in the next six months Do I have to worry or not? Or next one month? Or what should I do? What do I not do? So we have broken it down to that simplistic level How long have you had this app now? So astrology, the app has been there for almost 18-19 months And the astrology period was added around 3 months back Who are the people coming to your apps?

[00:43:08] What are you learning about the world through Ainiyasvi and your astrology app? It's very fascinating to get insights I would say almost 70-75% are in the age group of 18-35 Really? Yeah, they are the most anxious 70% of the questions Asked when will you marry? Love will be marriage? Arrind will be marriage? Those kind of questions 20% are on career finance

[00:43:37] And 10% are on health, legal, court cases So that's the wide spectrum And in terms of the gender ratio It's 2 thirds females, 1 third male So female are coming more 18 to 35 are coming more On your app And these are the people who asked for your astrology to be added And want to know In a world where we think Gen Z are becoming marriage evers You are actually hearing something else We are hearing something else

[00:44:06] That's the relationship is the biggest thing That people are asking And plus we understand what is worrying the metro cities What is worrying the tier 1 cities Go on, tell me, what is worrying the metro versus the tier 1? Tier 1 is more marriage That's why I'm saying broadly, metro is more about career And finance So this app is in India? Currently we have Indian users We have not launched it for international users That is being launched in May But again, the insights we get

[00:44:36] As I said, it shows us what is worrying India across age groups And across geographies But sometimes you feel like Some of the questions I've seen On the face of it, they look funny But if you think about it They hold a lot of... You feel actually bad for that person So one of the things that we see is Girl asking an astrologer This is now what... She's paying to ask an astrologer No AI, paying an astrologer I've posted something on social media A reel But my boyfriend has not liked it

[00:45:05] So does that mean That he's going to break up with me? Now you actually... No astrologer can give an answer to that But what you feel bad Is that girl is so anxious And she has no one Socially to speak to Therefore she's hiding behind a curtain of anonymity She doesn't know the astrologer Okay, she's not going to meet him She's anonymous to the astrologer In that sense he only knows her details Date of birth But she needs someone to talk to So it's more counsellor

[00:45:35] It's quite intriguing You started all of this with the thought That no one should feel lonely And you are discovering That they are people In fact children Young minds Young 18, 20 year olds Who are lonely Well, absolutely From the questions you feel What are they going through? How do... They need help Why do you think that is? I think we live in an anxious world Post-COVID, that's number one

[00:46:04] Social skills are not there Like when I was growing up We didn't have all these screen time To be on the road playing cricket And so on And other games But today kids have got so much They are very watching Which is the unreal world They are comparing themselves With things posted by others Which are in the unreal world And they start comparing That creates anxiousness Now in the last year, year and a half AI, so for this young generation It's all about jobs But anything you read is

[00:46:34] AI is going to take jobs away A child has studied hard Been a topper Gone to university Spent four years doing engineering And at the end of the day If they are struggling to get a job It breaks their hearts, right? So all these anxiousness And some... And they believe the stars will help them Like my Ajit Bhai Who guides us on astrology He says Astrology is a very funny business That No one will ask a doctor

[00:47:04] Guarantee though No one will ask a lawyer Guarantee though But if an astrologer says something Hoga na? You know? That's how people are living it Yes, yes indeed So... But you know you said Why people feel it? A prayer is coming from here Please, a prayer The hair of the hair is also It's strange It's in the hair But it's not in the hair

[00:47:33] You know that's how How... People must be feeling You know when they go to an astrologer It's in the hair But it's not in the hair It's not in the hair What a thing is Vivek is also a shayar by the way That's another episode Because I know him from before And he loves his shayari I think you are all about Emotion, life, moments, stories And you use AI

[00:48:02] To make all this happen How do you feel And balance Somewhere it connects to the girls question as well So I would yet say that Are we going to lose jobs? Of course we will lose certain kind of jobs in AI But yet we know in the next 2-3 years Whether AI is something that brings in efficiency Or is bringing in effectiveness We are seeing part, you know Easy to develop a Let's say a script, a movie, a small video

[00:48:31] All that using AI Which is good But are we getting too scared of it? I don't think we should And every generation will understand See when computers came in the 80s and 90s That is, accountants All that jobs will be done And all that will be done That's not happening That's not happening I think human touch and human interaction Will hopefully override And we will see jobs Like I remember when my

[00:49:00] Granddaughter Laila went to see her school She is just 2 and a half years old But the parents were looking for school And the principal made a very interesting comment That the work she will do Has not even been invented yet Because we don't know how life is going to pan out The key thing is, I would say Yeah, yeah, yeah, tomorrow something else can come We have to have our kids who are resilient To deal with it And that's what I think is missing In children today

[00:49:30] The resilience Life will throw us problems In life is not going to be problems Whether it's financial, health Anything, something or something will happen They should be resilient to deal with it I think that's one skill that the youngsters need to learn Resilience Resilience Absolutely correct And I think all of us Indians, origin people Have survived in this very untoward climate

[00:49:57] Or you call it at one point racism or whatever Because we have been resilient And I want to know the story of India yesterday, today and tomorrow Because you have done it through names You have lived in India, lived in the UK How do you see the country yesterday, today and tomorrow? No, I think what I mentioned earlier Again, you realize that yesterday was all about identity for India Faith, traditional, mythological names, Ram, Lakshmi, all those names

[00:50:25] Today became more global exposure And the names also were a reflection of a blend of tradition and modern And tomorrow I think it will all be about individuality The names will reflect individuality But at the same time, I think the Indian heritage will not be lost They will be connected to the Indian heritage There is something about it Yes, absolutely Do you know what? There is something about it

[00:50:54] I am not able to I need to, I am trying to think what is that Indian in me That just stays What is that 1, 2, 3 value or Indian-ness? I think it is the way we have been brought up in joint families The culture that we have been brought up in Of course, now we are becoming nuclear families But at least I have been brought up in a joint family culture You imbibe a lot of things

[00:51:23] Yeah, well we are still discovering We don't have answers to everything But my question was also about you India for you yesterday, today and tomorrow Not only through your names Because you have lived in India You live here in the UK, London now And you go back, you have your businesses there Yesterday as a kid and growing up and all India was India which lacked confidence in itself Though we had a lot of history We lacked confidence in ourselves

[00:51:52] When I came here to London The kind of exposure I got Because we didn't have exposure in India It is only liberalisation that brought some exposure I came to London in 97 And a lot of confidence I remember many times I have travelled to other European countries And I have not carried any money with me I have just forgotten my wallet, just had my credit card But I never felt It is ok, it doesn't make a difference That is the confidence that I had, I could go anywhere

[00:52:20] And I always felt that I am as good If not better than the people that I meet The Europeans and the Americans and so on We are all on par And I think future will be the same Because we Indians are down to earth So we don't think we are better than others But in our hearts we know we are better than others To be very frank Humility, come on, take it, sit on the side

[00:52:48] That Indian identity will definitely India of the future I think it is a proud country Lot of infrastructure coming up So we will just get better and better There is a lot of positivity in India Definitely, at least I can say it in cities I am not sure what is in the rural areas But urban, absolute positivity On that note, you will have no astrological help In our next section called High Five India Ok

[00:53:19] I will ask you some fiery questions That you can be rapid in replying Or take a little bit of time Ok So here we are, High Five India India for you in one word Love What is it about India that the world still doesn't understand? Of a civilization What about it? The whole scientific way things have happened since ages Which the world is rediscovering now

[00:53:49] They don't understand That we were far ahead of our times If you could name your decades that you found your names by Each decade of India What would those names be? I will combine some decades I would say 47 to 70 would be all about identity 70 to 90s would be all about cinema 90 to 2000 would be about liberalization 2010 And 2010 onwards would be globalization

[00:54:17] If you were not a businessman What would you be doing? I would have been a shire Shire I am a shire No You would have been very poor I might have been That's what my passion would have been But you are doing that He is writing a shiree book also So that's good That would be our next thing If you could go back in history Who is the one person

[00:54:46] Historical figure Even from your family Anyone you would like to meet And what would you like to ask? The one historical figure that I would like to meet is Chanakya To understand his philosophy of making wealth Arthashastra We all have read it But there are a lot of questions which remain unanswered So you will want to be shire and then ask Chanakya How to make money so that I can keep continuing doing my shiree

[00:55:15] But that's the gentleman I would like to meet you know Okay, that's wonderful India for you today A global power Okay, you did it Thank you Thank you very very much Vivek Thank you for the time It's been absolutely wonderful talking and discovering The inquisitive you that you are The humble you that you are And so much that you have discovered and made me learn as well

[00:55:45] So great for being the culture atlas and the history atlas And the name atlas of the world Wonderful talking to you Loveena today Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you This is absolutely smashing conversation What do names tell us about the world that we live in? About our parents, about what they want us to be? and how much more can we discover about us through our names.

[00:56:14] What a fascinating conversation I've had and we've spoken about names and what a fascinating place to be talking about names in this beautiful room surrounded by cricket, surrounded by country and the people you really value. So how did you like this episode? Do write unto me and your feedback your ideas. They are precious.

[00:56:41] So keep to keep writing into India a story in the making. Thank you. Take care and God bless. This video is created for educational, informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and may include commentary on geopolitics and global affairs. They are shared for general awareness, discussion and understanding and are not intended to offend, harm or misrepresent any individual, community, organization, country or religion. The information presented in this video is based on publicly available sources as well as material provided by our guest.

[00:57:10] All visuals and content used in this video have been included with the consent of our guest while efforts are made to ensure accuracy. Viewers are encouraged to do their own research and form their own opinions before drawing any conclusions. 잘 Guard All合 calories ho despite mob Ark alleroires Hoff part of our guest For their Varesses