The Agony Of Being a Koirala

Foreword: “Dad, this one’s not against you”

Shakespeare very famously said and I quote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Our contemporary hero when proudly stated, “I am Bond, James Bond”, swooned the very sanity of all ladies around the globe, and they all fell for it. The actor has changed over the years, but the name has prevailed. If James Bond and Shakespeare were to get into a debate, James Bond would easily gain ground with the help of sheer statistics; attributing most of his fame to his name. How rhyming!

But this is all about the privileged celebs that have carved their identity and are world famous. What if as a mango man, the ‘aam admi’, your identity was to be defined by the identity of another mortal, that too a celeb whom you know as well as everyone else and the person questioning you? Confused? Read on…

Since long, I have been fighting this so called identity crisis created by the ubiquitous question when people meet me for the first time, “Are you related to Manisha Koirala?” My polite answer is “No”. I try to be honest and kind, knowing that the dubious person’s next query would be, “Then are you in anyway related to the former Prime Minister of Nepal, Girija Prasad Koirala (some folks are unable to recall his name, and I am expected to come to their rescue)?” Well, my polite answer would be again, “No”. It’s still bearable if they stop at this. There have been umpteen numbers of people who have rubbed it further asking me, “Are Manisha Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala related to each other?" For Christ’s sake, how on earth would I know that when I have already told you that I am related to neither of them? Go and Google it for yourself.

This has been happening to me right since my kindergarten days. I faintly remember this question being shot at me for the first time. The occasion was an intra school elocution contest. I had bagged the first prize. Euphoric! The chief guest of the evening, while handing the prize, with a confident smirk on her face, asked me, “Are you Manisha Koirala’s relative?” As a kid, I was numb struck, not knowing what to reply. The name seemed familiar, especially the “Koirala” part. I politely replied, “I do not know ma'am” and left with the trophy. My mom explained it to me later, rather unconvincingly, that all we similarly surnamed people are somewhere related to each other in the family tree. Till date I furnish this version of my mom’s tale (did someone say “fairy”) whenever I am in a grumpy mood, and want people to stop at the cliché “Are you related to Manisha Koirala?” And trust me it works. I am yet to fathom how exactly it works, but it does! Probably for some strange reason like they get convinced that they’ve met one of her relative, so they no longer bother about the other prospective relation between Koirala (Manisha) and Koirala (Girija).

Nevertheless, these questions have helped many to break the ice and start conversation when meeting for the first time. I choose to explain when the person on the other side is someone I want to know more about.

P.S.: My name is Koirala, and I am not “related to Manisha”. (Karan Johar, I have nothing against you, but your movies suck big time)