The New Year celebration was a very different one for me. Unlike most New Year parties with booze and buddies, this year I went out to visit my ancestral town with my parents and my younger brother—all nine of us.
My dad had explained the meaning of our family name, Singhai, many times. I knew it but never truly felt the grandeur.
The gist is that when a Jain sponsored and organized a “Gaj-Rath Mahotsav” to build a temple—months-long, grand festivals, in those days—they were awarded the title of chief of the society. The successive generations got to keep the title. This title Singhai is derived from the Sanskrit word “Sangh-pati”.
Interestingly, before our family became Singhai, our family name was Singh.
Does that mean my forefathers knew AI would be here and that’s why they worked to get AI to our family name? 🤔
