Locals at odds with strange village names

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, September 20

What’s in a name, wrote William Shakespeare, but it seems that the nomenclature matters a lot, especially for residents of villages having weird names in the state.

Many residents of villages such as Lalle, Bamb, Aakad, Kubba, Makhi, Bhoot, Amir Khas, Lande, Rode, Khuni Majra, Kala Bakra, Bhangchari, Kattianwali, Jhotianwali, Sappanwali, Gidderanwali, etc. sometimes feel embarrassed when they have to tell someone the names of their villages.

For instance, a student from Billimar village in Fazilka district said, “I feel uncomfortable when I have to tell someone the name of my village, especially to the person who does not belong to the area. Some relatives even laugh at us. The village can be renamed as Raisinghpur because a number of people from the Rai Sikh community live here.”

Similarly, Nishan Singh, a former sarpanch of Kuttianwali village in Muktsar district, which was renamed as Sheranwala village in 2014, said, “Once a saint accompanied by a large number of followers had come to our village, villagers offered them food. He then told us that we should work as lions, but surprisingly the name of the village is Kuttianwali. Since he called us sher (lion), we started using the word Sheranwala for our village. However, officially the village name was changed in 2014. We had requested the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who then took up the matter with the Centre.”

There are a number of villages with funny names, some of these even named on animals, such as Jhotianwali, Gidderanwali, Sappanwali, Koharianwali, Beganwali, Killianwali, Kawanwali, Kirianwala, Billimar and Amir Khas in Fazilka district; Kattianwali, Chhapianwali, Bhangchari, Kabarwala, Lande Rode in Muktsar district; Fidde, Lalle, Bhedanwala, Kirianwala, Ittanwali and Katora in Ferozepur district.

Similarly, there are some villages with bizarre names such as Kuttiwal, Giddar, Bhagi Bandar, Lelewala in Bathinda district; Andianwali in Mansa district; Khote, Lande, Rode and Izzatwala in Moga district; Khuni Majra and Ghoga in SAS Nagar district; Moranwali in Faridkot district.