What’s in a surname!

Twitteratti went abuzz as Bollywood took a stand for Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sushant Singh Rajput, who enjoys huge fan-following, raised questions about the obsession with surnames. “Took off Rajput from my name for a day as “they” don’t represent the entire community,” he said. This gave way to a discussion — does dropping surnames make us an all-inclusive society? Here is what youngsters from tricity feel. — Mona

Change the thinking

It’s not the surname, but thinking that needs be dropped. The need of the hour is to rise above the petty differences and make this world a better place to live in for all of us. —Sania Dutt, engineer, Infosys

Protest peacefully

I do use my surname for it was a given, but sure there is no need for it. In India, it is a marker of social status. And so strong is the identification with our past that we have seen results in Jaipur incident. There are ways of peaceful protests. —Naresh Kalia, Phd student

Live in harmony

We are an all-inclusive society; while surnames are a reflection of our standing in society, yet we know very well how to live in harmony with all our differences. I have friends with different surnames from different communities. —Sourabh Rajput, sales manager

Calm down

We need to calm down as a society.  A filmmaker has creative freedom; vandalism is no way to react.My identity goes way beyond my surname. Dropping surnames in country like ours can bring about a change, but the generation today does not take such segregations seriously. —Vibhuti Verma, Architecture student