Asli nationalism

“Throughout my life, I have been asked why I have a Hindu name,” says childhood friend Jawahar D’Souza.
A group of us old school buddies are whiling away time at the monthly breakfast meet at our regular Udipi adda.
Jawahar, a hoarding contractor, is the eldest of the D’Souza siblings, followed by Ashok, who is in the Merchant Navy. There is a girl next, and then a set of male twins. Yes, the three also have Hindu names.
“To everyone who asked why he had kept Hindu names for his children, my dad would say, `They are not Hindu names. They are Indian names,’ ” says Jawahar. “My dad believed in nationalism long before the term became fashionable.”