Berhampur/Bhubaneswar: As people in coastal belt of Odisha battled ‘Titli’, several mothers have rushed to name their newborns after the cyclone that left a trail of destruction in its wake.
Several families in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Nayagarh have named their newborn daughters as “Titli” because they were born either before the very severe cyclone’s arrival in the coast or after it made landfall.
Twenty-year-old A Allemma of Paradip, who gave birth to twins at the sub-divisional hospital at Chhatrapur at 6.05 and 6.12 am Thursday, at the time of landfall of Titli at Palasa, wants to name the newborns ‘Titli’ which means butterfly in Hindi.
“I want to name my daughters as Titli,” said Allemma, who delivered the first baby when the cyclonic storm was crossing Odisha coast.
Similarly, Bimla Das (29) of Plurugada, who also delivered a baby girl in the same hospital, wants to name her after the storm. The baby was born at around 7 am, said sub-divisional medial officer, Chhatarpur, Kanhu Charan Patra. Titli is Bimala’s third child, he added.
In Aska community health centre (CHC), nine babies were born between Wednesday night and 11 am Thursday. All of them were girls.
“We have decided to name the babies which were delivered after Wednesday midnight as Titli, said Mohan Barik, the gynecology specialist of the hospital.
A baby was born to Gitanjali Gouda (20) of Kalasuta at about 2.10 am, he said. The baby’s parents gladly accepted the proposal and named one of the babies as Titli, he said.
At the Hinjili CHC, at least four babies were born since Wednesday evening. Manjari Jena (21) who delivered a girl at Polsara CHC also wanted to name her daughter Titli. She delivered the girl at about 12.55 am.
Chief district medical officer (CDMO) Ganjam, Sadananda Mishra, said they have admitted over 100 pregnant women in different hospitals in the district Wednesday for safe delivery.
Of them, at least 64 have delivered during the night hour and Thursday morning. CDMO, Jagatsinghpur, Ashok Pattnaik, said, “I understand that the parents have named their new born daughters as Titli. It is a good name. Of the 18 women admitted ahead of the cyclone, six have delivered babies.”
This is not the first occasion when the people of Odisha have named children after a cyclone. During the super cyclone in 1999, where about 10,000 people were killed, the parents had named their babies after the name of the calamity.
PNN
