Sunday, June 24, 2007

Random Thoughts..

We name the rivers. What do the streams care what we call them?

We name the hills, And do they care?
Do these hills, line after line, even think, of one, as distinct from the other?

We name the trees, And they do not know. And they do not care.

We even name the Animals
Do they name themselves? Or us?

We name the leaves
And the roots
The roads
And the streams
We name everything

And the hills, the streams, the waterfalls, the plains and the seas,
Laugh
And go on
What do they care??

12 comments:

Neihal said...

:)

They dont.

Wriju said...

I didn't name myself either! My parents did - I didn't even have a say (ok I spoke only babyish then).

Sigh.. Names are so beyond ones control.

By the way, I think I know why someone is thinking of names ;)

How do we know said...

Hi Neihal: :-)

Hi Wriju: Actually, i wasn't thinking of human names at all.. was more like.. saw a set of mountains and wondered...what do they care what we name them, or if we name them at all..but i like the Namesake parallel too! :-)

And to answer ur btw, one of the first things settled were the names ;-)so no search on that one front at least! :-)

A Arora said...

enchantedReminds me of a Dylan song :)

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal that liked to growl,
Big furry paws and he liked to howl,
Great big furry back and furry hair.
"Ah, think I'll call it a bear."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal up on a hill
Chewing up so much grass until she was filled.
He saw milk comin' out but he didn't know how.
"Ah, think I'll call it a cow."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal that liked to snort,
Horns on his head and they weren't too short.
It looked like there wasn't nothin' that he couldn't pull.
"Ah, think I'll call it a bull."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal leavin' a muddy trail,
Real dirty face and a curly tail.
He wasn't too small and he wasn't too big.
"Ah, think I'll call it a pig."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

Next animal that he did meet
Had wool on his back and hooves on his feet,
Eating grass on a mountainside so steep.
"Ah, think I'll call it a sheep."

Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.

He saw an animal as smooth as glass
Slithering his way through the grass.
Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake . . .

dharmabum said...

they don't care. but man does - man wants things out of all these. man has his needs and sometimes wants satisfied by all these. so he doesn't have a choice but to name them.

chitra said...

y did u name ur blog?

in english we have one more category of noun to read : Proper Nouns

Jokes apart, dont you think, by naming them, each mountain, river, tree we give everyone thier identity. It is not commonly said these mountains, rivers etc. Though I didnt contribute to my name, I love my name because it signifies me.

Itchingtowrite said...

strange- we r known by our name for the rest of our lives and that is decided by someone else... we hav no control over it. while naming my kids, i tried to ensure that they shoul dnot dislike the name ...after all, they hav to live with it for the rest of their life.

How do we know said...

Hi Tell me no more: It is a nice song! :-)

Hi Dharma: Yep, true, methinks.. yet, what do they care? ;-)

Hi Chitra: We give them an identity in our world. Does that identity matter in their world at all? When you look at a road cut into a mountain, you are struck by the fact that the mountain is sooo big, it probably wont even notice the wedge in its side called a "road"... and this "road" carries our BIG trucks.. that was the point of this post.

"Though I didnt contribute to my name, I love my name because it signifies me. "


And for the same reason, I do not like my name, or see a reason for it... you see, there is no "me" that I know of.

How do we know said...

Hi Itchie: Yep, that is true... we do need to be careful while naming our kids.. but as i say, the color of the car and the name of the child only matter till you have done it. After that, whatever the name(unless its something really unique), its usually accepted.

Aanchal said...

Nice. :)

delhidreams said...

random, but beautiful

and nothing in this world is beautiful if not appreciated by a glad eye, whether you name it or not

also, the substitute blog for dhaiakhar is, akshar.wordpress.com
there are the words that affect both of us, that is me and dee

take care :)

Something to Say said...

heavy thinking this - must say. Myabe it doesnt matter in their world - what we've named them...it matters to us.... so much so that we fight over names - and renaming - and re- re-naming at will.....