“Don’t kill me; just name me Nakusha. It serves the same purpose”. This is the voice of an unborn girl child.
William Shakespeare once said, “What’s in a name?” His opinion on names might have been very different if he had ever been to Satara. In this part of Maharashtra, many girls share a common name: Nakusha. If you are not a native Maharashtrian, you might wonder what’s so significant about such a common name. In Marathi, however, “Nakusha” means “Unwanted.”
Why Girls Are Given the Name ‘Nakusha
A great name may not add value to the person’s character, but a humiliating name definitely shakes their confidence. I wonder why such a derogatory name is being used for any girl! I come across some shocking facts when I read more about this naming practice. When a family is blessed with more than one girl, they tend to name the second or the third girl child as Nakusha. They believe that if they name the girl child Nakusha or Unwanted, then their next child will be a boy!
I was aware that people in this part of the world prefer to have a male child over a female one. But this is simply outrageous. The superstitious belief is definitely a thing of worry, but the more serious concern is the trauma of that girl child who has been named so. It lowers the self-esteem of the girl and kills her confidence. How painful it would have been to live your life with the feeling that you are unwelcome and unwanted by your own parents!
The Nakusha Renaming Campaign
A few girls change their names at an older age, but a lot of other girls live with this humiliating name throughout their life. The local Government started an initiative called “Nakusha Renaming Campaign”. Under this campaign, they conduct surveys in schools and villages to identify the girls with the name “Nakusha”. And then they invited them to officially change their name. Going by a News article, 280 girls from Satara alone were invited to participate in this campaign. This is a welcome step, but can this bring an end to this demeaning practice? A society that can name its daughters ‘Nakusha’ must ask itself; are we truly worshipping goddesses?