Hi! I am Rahul

Remember the time when every other guy you'd meet would introduce himself as 'Rahul'? Allow me to jog your memory. Actually, we have a superhit Bollywood movie to thank (or blame) for it. Don't misunderstand, even I like that movie a lot. If you are the 80s kid, you are well acquainted with the romantic notions that came with the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which released back in 1998. 

You were probably a teenager at that time or maybe at the end of your teenage years and kinda hoping for someone to sweep you off your feet like SRK does in KKHH. And then this movie happened which made matters even worse for boys and girls alike. It was a romantic movie which had people well in their 30s play college going characters. But let's keep this stupidity of Bollywood aside as this is not the point of this write-up.

I remember that guys who were lovingly named say 'Naveen' or 'Dinesh' didn't like their names anymore because of this movie. Boys wanted to impress girls or seem cool so they renamed themselves 'Rahul'. For that matter, even the girls didn't like the guys with such boring names as they wanted to be associated only with the 'cool' guys. And the name Rahul 'supposedly' had cool vibes back then.

Around the KKHH frenzy, one of my friends came to visit and brought along a friend who introduced himself as 'Rahul'. Instantly, my friend gave him a confused look as she was clearly taken aback.

It took me a few seconds to understand what had happened and we all had a good time laughing and teasing that poor chap who also had fallen a victim to the 'Rahul' mania. I'm sure you know that he certainly was not named Rahul by his parents and didn't want to change his name either. The poor thing only wanted to look cool in front of a girl who he'd met for the first time and the name Rahul came out as a reflex. We never met again partially maybe because of this embarrassing incident or by design. Because of this particular incident, the side effect of KKHH is etched in my memory and makes me smile even today.

Do share if you have any similar funny experiences related to a Bollywood movie in the comments below.