How I chanced upon my username.

How I chanced upon my username


My username is Vindhya, the name of a mountain range that separates North India from the South. It is an age-old range of mountains of mythical and historical importance.

Why did I choose Vindhya as my username? Frankly, because I love mountains. The memories of my school excursions into the valley gardens, situated in the Eastern Ghats mountain range that borders my hometown in South India, are still fresh and vivid. The waterfalls and the tall eucalyptus trees, the trekking in the slopes of hills are deeply etched on my mind. The herbal smell, emanating from the rain-cooled earth mingling with salty flavor of the Bay of Bengal, pervading the atmosphere, will forever remain with me. We, as children played games like hide-and-seek (a single guy or girl should find out others hiding in various spots), and ran across the valley like the deer they have in the sanctuary nearby.

I find the vocal silence in the mountains, companionable and consoling. Whenever I am in the vicinity of a hill, my eyes drink in its shape, and my mind absorbs the greenery that adorns it. Wild flowers, blooming in countless colors on the hillside, look like my bosom-friends. My mind scales its height, and finding a comfortable flat boulder to sit upon, I take a deep breath of  the fresh air, start contemplating on the scenery around.

So, when Writing.com asked for a username, Vindhya came to my mind involuntarily, perhaps because it is a well-known name of a mountain range.

Incidentally, there is a fascinating legend about Vindhya. During the days when mountains had a will of their own, Vindhya had this urge to grow beyond the Sun. Along with her growing height, her vanity grew. When it was about to touch the danger mark by obstructing the trajectory of the Sun, the sages had to think of a strategy to thwart her. Sage Agastya, known for his intelligence, stepped in to save the universe from a calamity.

Agastya came upon the impassable Vindhya Mountain Range, while traveling from the north to the south. He requested the range to let him cross over. In reverence to the sage, the range bent to facilitate his passage. It also promised him not to grow till he returned. Agastya never came back. He settled in the South permanently, and the range never grew further true to its word.

Vindhya is also a popular name for girls in my part of India. It is brief, pretty and colorful. Perhaps I subconsciously wanted to be named so.